I am often asked by people not fortunate enough to have been born and bred in God's own county why Yorkshire Day is such a big deal? Despite Yorkshire Day being only a relatively recent creation, I've always found this to be a somewhat perplexing question.
Yorkshire has always been a state of mind as much as a physical entity. Loyalty to it is as strong as it has ever been, if not more so. Most people wouldn't dream of questioning a Scot on their pride in and loyalty to Scotland, or ask them to justify their identity. So why ask a Yorkshireman?
Yorkshire Day was first proposed and celebrated by the Yorkshire Ridings Society in 1974 in York. The aim of the society, founded the same year, is to preserve the identity of the 'real' Yorkshire following the reorganisation of county boundaries which saw the three Ridings carved up into new administrative areas.
Since then, the celebrations have gone from strength to strength. Whereas it was once unusual to see the white rose flying above town halls and sports centres this is now commonplace, largely thanks to the efforts of the Yorkshire Ridings Society. Indeed, acknowledgement of traditional county boundaries recently received the support of Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (see here).
To celebrateYorkshire Day this year, Welcome to Yorkshire have commissioned a new twist on the county's unofficial anthem "On Ilkla Moor Baht 'At" featuring the likes of Jonjo Kerr and the Yorkshire Regiment, Alistair Griffin, Lesley Garratt, the Grimethorpe Colliery Band and - yes, it's true - Brian Blessed rapping!
The song can be downloaded from iTunes here for the meagre sum (even to a Yorkshireman) of 0.79p with all proceeds going to fantastic Heroes Children Fund charity and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.Please, dig deep, support two worthy charities and let's try get the anthem of God's own county to number one in the charts!
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