Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce put their support behind Sir Gary Verity

In a letter to its members, the Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce has shown support for Gary Verity.

They are also calling for people not to be involved in inevitable “mud slinging” and giving apparent reason for any of Mr Verity’s actions as due to “putting himself and his team under pressure”.

Sir eGary Verity stood down on the 23 March 2019, citing health grounds.

Welcome to Yorkshire have said that Sir Gary Verity was given a final written warning and told to attend a ‘behavioural management counselling’ course after allegations were made about his behaviour in 2014 and 2016. He is also paying back monies owed in expenses that were incorrectly claimed.

Sandra Doherty, the CEO of the Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce wrote to their members on 25 March 2019, saying:

It is with some sadness that I report to Harrogate District Chamber Members the resignation of Sir Gary Verity from Welcome to Yorkshire
Over the past 10 years we have supported Welcome to Yorkshire and listened with interest to Sir Gary speaking at several of our monthly meetings. His passion for Yorkshire and of course cycling never failed to shine through. Other members of the team have kept us informed and provided fascinating insights into the development of a world class event.

We realise that although his resignation does leave a temporary hole it is something which an organisation such as Welcome to Yorkshire will rise above and continue to support and encourage Tourism in our beautiful and diverse county.

After reading the disappointing news on Friday night after Sir Gary’s departure my personal thoughts are that the pressure he put himself under and sadly members of his team must have been immense. We will possible never know all the facts but let us celebrate the positives and not involve ourselves in the inevitable mud slinging which happens on occasions like these.

Here in Harrogate we are the epicentre of the forthcoming UCI Cycling Event and we offer our support to Welcome to Yorkshire to ensure this event fulfils the many hours of planning by the whole Welcome to Yorkshire Team.