Happy Yorkshire day everyone! Today is the day that Yorkshire folk celebrate their Yorkshireness and all things Yorkshire. I shall be wearing my White Rose of Yorkshire with pride at knit night tonight.
It came in a kit for from baa ram ewe Yorkshire’s loveliest yarn shop. The yarn is British blue-faced Leicester produced in Halifax West Yorkshire, which kind of makes up for it not being made from a Yorkshire breed such as Wensleydale or Swaledale.
So I thought I would celebrate with posting some facts about my hometown of Doncaster in South Yorkshire as an expression of my pride.
Not a lot of people know but butterscotch, one of my favourite confections (which has no scotch in it but heaps of butter and other yumminess) originates from Doncaster. It was made by a company called Parkinson’s and even got Royal approval after it was given to Queen Victoria when she opened the St. Leger horse race in Doncaster in 1766. Now called The Grand St. Leger it is the oldest and longest horserace in history, not that I know a great deal about horse racing though I did once do a stint at silver service waitressing at the St. Leger. Butterscotch is still being made by Parkinson’s in Doncaster after a recent revival, yay!
Quite aptly as today is Yorkshire day, hubby and I went to see the Grimethorpe colliery band from South Yorkshire last night, they are touring Australia at the moment. You may recall that Grimethorpe colliery band were made generally famous through the film Brassed Off. Brassed off happens to be one of my all time favourite films, not only for the brilliant and emotive musical score and fantastic acting (Pete Postlethwaite, my absolute favourite actor) but because I grew up in a mining town and lived through that era so it has a particular poignancy for me. I have to say they proved themselves not only to be superlative musicians but also humorous entertainers too, we had a fantastic night.
ttfn Melanie x
Recipe For A Yarn 