Modesty, charm and a delicate wit are the true characteristics of Yorkshiremen and women who caper about today in all manner of regional celebrations. Since 1975 August 1 has been designated Yorkshire Day, initially by a few zealots in the Yorkshire Ridings society (mourning the loss of the three ancient divisions of the county in local government changes), but nowadays by local people at large. If you want to take part in a pudding race or a liquorice festival, or hear a bevy of mayors reading the Yorkshire declaration of integrity, head for the broad acres. The floods have drained and the sun has been shining all week on the dales, wolds and North York Moors. Yorkshire deserves this break after the resilience it has shown not just in the June monsoon but during the economic battering it has taken with the decline of coal, deep-water fishing and mass-employment steel. The loss of these industries has been triumphantly reversed. The region's reinvented business is worth £78bn and ranks among the top fifth of the world's national economies. Such beefy statistics, however, carry a danger. It was trumpeting them that created the misapprehension that tykes are boastful, crude and mean. True, Yorkshire is the biggest English county, the West Riding on its own the second biggest, and only eight miles of lowly Lancashire stop the North Riding stretching from one coast to the other. But non-Yorkshire people do not want to hear that. Yorkshire has learned in the 21st century that there is no need to brag.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2008
