THE WHITE rose flew high as proud locals gathered in Uppermill for the annual Yorkshire Day celebrations.
Around 50 people congregated to hear the Yorkshire Declaration of Integrity read by Gilbert Symes at 11.39am – marking 1,139 years since Yorkshire was created.
Uppermill Band entertained, poems by Ammon Wrigley were recited and the crowd joined in a rousing rendition of the Holmfirth Anthem.
Saddleworth Parish Council Chairman Enid Firth, who comes from Wakefield but has lived in Saddleworth for 15 years, laid a wreath of white roses on the statue of Ammon Wrigley.
She said: “This is a day that reminds us that whatever the officials in Whitehall say is best for us, we do not wipe out years of history with the stroke of a pen.
“I am proud to be called a true Yorkshire lass.”
She was joined by Chairman’s Consort Bill Cullen, the Mayor of Oldham Fida Hussain and his wife Mayoress Tanvir Hussain, and members of the Saddleworth White Rose Society.
Proceedings were rounded off by Doreen Ainscote, from The Friends of Real Lancashire, who praised the recent Tour de France in Yorkshire and urged the counties to come together during World War One commemorations.
Then, waving flags and wearing white roses, Gilbert Symes and Oliver Benson led a parade to King George V Playing Fields for an afternoon of fun and games.
Entertainment included performances from courageous Nicola Jeffery-Sykes, who is battling against cancer but took centre stage with a song in her heart for Yorkshire.
Nicola, 56, adapted her self-penned tune ‘Live my life in Yorkshire’, which she first sang at an audition in the recent ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ series.
It received enthusiastic applause at the Yorkshire Day celebrations, along with some First World War favourites, with accompaniment by pianist Michael Hindson
Nicola said: “I was one of the young people who initially fought to keep Saddleworth in West Yorkshire.
“I wanted the song to be part of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War and applaud the courage of my maternal grandfather, Horace Foden, who signed up as a foot soldier at the age of 15.
“I also wanted to praise Brenda Cockayne, one of the Yorkshire Day organisers, for all she has done for the village.”
Meanwhile, hungry visitors tucked into a real slice of Yorkshire thanks to creative baker Andrea Roebuck, who designed a heavyweight pie filled with beef, onions, potatoes, peas, carrots and pieces of Yorkshire pudding in a rich gravy.
Andrea, boss of The Little Saddleworth Pie Company, explained: “When I was born in Greenfield it was in Yorkshire.
“The pie weighs ten pounds and it is enough to feed a whole Saddleworth rugby team.”
Elsewhere, another wreath was laid at the War Memorial in Uppermill to remember all those who gave their lives in World War One as the 100th anniversary is marked this year.
Cllr Firth laid the wreath with the Mayor of Oldham on behalf of the Saddleworth White Rose Society before a minute’s silence was held.
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