The Club is celebrating its 90th year since we were chartered in 1933. Our Club archivists, Rachel, Judith and Nicola are busy going through our archives held at County Hall in Northallerton. We have many photos but some with no names or dates. Lesley, our Communication team leader posted photos on the Historical Harrogate and District Facebook page. Val Hills, recognised one of the faces and thought it may be Mary Fisher. In March we spoke about Forgotten Women. This included Mary Fisher MBE JP. Val, has been doing a lot of work about Mary the first lady mayor of Harrogate. It is our quest for her to be recognised with a Brown plaque.
Could this be her, was she a Soroptimist or just visiting the Club?
Mary’s granddaughter, Anne, contacted the Club after the an article about Mary appeared in the Harrogate Advertiser and provided more information about her Granny. So, Val contacted Anne and asked if she thought the lady, second from the left on the back row was Mary. Anne responded to say that is was and further more she recalled her Granny talking about the Soroptimists. She then searched through some of Mary’s mementos and found a badge – an original Soroptimist badge given to a member when she joined.
Our archivist Rachel looked through our archives and found that indeed there is a Mary Fisher JP who was a member of the Club in the 1930s. We are now looking for more information about her time with our Club.
Mary certainly made a difference to many lives, the Harrogate Civic Society is considering recognising her with a Brown Plaque. She gave great service to the people of Harrogate in many guises for a long time.