Austin Healey Club Northern Centre Harrogate Weekend 2024

This year’s Northern Centre Mayday Weekend Event took place in Harrogate at the Cedar Court Hotel over the weekend of 3-6 May. The hotel is built on the site of Queen’s Head Inn the earliest Hotel in Harrogate. It is ideally positioned on the outskirts of the town approximately 10 minutes walk away from the centre.

We welcomed 50 cars and their owners and passengers to the event and we all received a very warm Yorkshire welcome from staff at the Hotel. From the Events Manager to bar and restaurant staff nothing was too much trouble. Special mention must go to Oliver, Dan and Amelia who always seemed to be on hand and were extremely helpful.

Two routes were provided by Mike Stonier and Paul Johnson. The Saturday run took us through spectacular scenery, villages such as Appletreewick and Burnsall, and local sights such as the Stump Cross Caverns and Malham Cove. Sunday’s route took us past Harewood House and up to Bolton Castle a partly restored 14th century Fortress which is still owned by the Bolton family. Many attendees also took the opportunity to visit Harrogate a spa town with many upmarket shops and the famous Betty’s Tea Rooms. The weather was not particularly kind but it was cloudy rather than torrential.

As far as evenings are concerned, Friday comprised of meeting old friends and making new in the bar and over a sumptuous dinner in our designated evening room, the rather grandly named Queen’s Restaurant. Dinner on Saturday was followed by superb entertainment provided by Kadie who had a fabulous voice and very cheeky sense of humour leading to lots of dancing by many participants.

On Sunday we had our gala Dinner followed by our Concours results in which the winners are voted by the participants themselves and our Cornish raffle. The prizes were given by our participants and their generosity in buying tickets resulted in a donation of £950 being made to the charity suggested by Mike this year, Motor Neurone UK, a very worthy cause, to help fund research into this truly dreadful disease. This was followed by a DJ who had us all or nearly all dancing the night away.

On Monday morning goodbyes were said though some people stayed for an extra night to enjoy the hotel and surroundings in a more leisurely way. These weekends seem to pass so quickly.

The Concours winners are

Special thanks go to AH Spares and Essence of Nantwich for their goody bag donations. The organisers would also like to thank all our participants, without them the event would not happen. We thank you for your cards, good wishes and amazing generosity.

Next year Northern Centre will be hosting the International Healey Meeting from 20 – 23 July 2025 so there will be no mayday event however the organisers would love to welcome you all back in July 2025. The venue is already booked though yet to be announced and arrangements are well in hand.

Mike and Bernadette Stonier