Click here for Blogger tutorials, premade templates, free blog templates and custom blog designs »

Monday 1 August 2011

Happy Yorkshire Day

Did you know that today is Yorkshire day?

The government reorganised England's county boundaries in 1974 and, following this, a number of concerned people set up county groups to lobby for the return of their traditional heritage. One of these groups was the Yorkshire Ridings Society.

It was in one of these groups (in the East Riding village of Market weighton) that led to the idea of having a day to celebrate all things Yorkshire and to promotoe our heritage and history. Hence, Yorkshire day was born. The date chosen for Yorkshire day was 1st August and it has been celebrated anually since 1975 (the year I was born).

{Yorkshire's flag}
The reason that August 1st was chosen was because on 1st August 1759, soldiers from yorkshire picked white roses from bushes near the battlefields at Minden (Germany) as a tribute to their falled comrades. The white rose is still the symbol for Yorkshire and appears on our county flag.

I am what many call an "honourary Yorksirewoman" because I wasn't born in Yorkshire. I was actually born in Lancashire, the county next door, usually referred to as "the opposition" because of the long running Wars of the Roses that occurred in the 1400's. However, next year I will have lived here for as long as I have lived in Lancashire. I wonder if that then makes me a fully-fledged yorkshire woman?

I love living in Yorkshire. When I first moved here in 1993, I was immediately struck by how friendly and open Yorkshire people are. As time has gone on, I have felt proud to belong to this county of friendly, welcoming people, fabulous rolling hills and of course, the inventors of the Yorkshire Pudding!

I may tell you some more useless useful facts about Yorkshire in the future if you're interested, but for now I will leave you with some pictures taken in my "home" county of Yorkshire.

{taken at Scarborough}

{taken at Scarborough}

{one of the many rolling hills}

{taken at Filey}

{taken at Yorkshire Sculpture Park}



{taken at Wentworth Castle & Gardens}
 I hope you enjoyed today's history and geography lesson. it was nice to share somehting with you about where I live and why I love my new adopted home so much!  :)

1 comments:

Madison Sanders said...

Interesting. I never knew why Yorkshire Day is celebrated until I read this.

Post a Comment