BORN AND BRED

Welcome to Yorkshire Day !
To the County of Yorkshire in the North of England - the largest county in England and God's Own County ! Happy Birthday Mel !

Today my image shows 3 of the 7 Yorkshire Flags flying from the Town Hall in Scarborough. The white rose is proudly worn by all on Yorkshire Day.

Today I need to reinstate my Yorkshire Declaration of Integrity :

I, blipper riversider, being a resident of the North Riding of Yorkshire declare:
That Yorkshire is three Ridings and the City of York, with these Boundaries of 1134 years standing;
That the address of all places in these Ridings is Yorkshire;
That all persons born therein or resident therein and loyal to the Ridings are Yorkshiremen and women;
That any person or corporate body which deliberately ignores or denies the aforementioned shall forfeit all claim to Yorkshire status.
These declarations made this Yorkshire Day 2012.
God Save the Queen!

More History - the White Rose of York is the symbol of the House of York and has been adopted as a symbol of Yorkshire as a whole. White is the symbol of light, typifying innocence and purity, joy and glory.

During the Wars of the Roses, in the fifteenth century, the White Rose was the symbol of Yorkist forces opposed to the rival Red Rose of the House of Lancaster. When the dust settled at the end of the wars the badges were merged into the "Tudor Rose" which serves as the badge of England today.

On August 1st, 1759, soldiers from Yorkshire regiments who had fought in the battle of Minden, in Germany, picked white roses from bushes near to the battlefields as a tribute to their fallen comrades.

But there is controversy - what is the correct standing of the Yorkshire rose?

One legend tells that a Yorkshire rose rests on one point, so that the lines between the petals form a letter Y for Yorkshire.

However all the roses in the arms of the three Yorkshire Ridings are 'conventional' with the roses resting on two points. Still confused ???

The flag used to represent Yorkshire is a White Rose of York on a blue background.

The flag for the North Riding of Yorkshire shows the arms combined with the cross of St George with three white Yorkshire roses.

Whatever - enjoy the day and best wishes to Yorkshiremen the world over !