Jon Trickett: "I admire Yorkshire's ‘Rebel Spirit’
What is your first Yorkshire memory?
My first Yorkshire memory is when I was 5 or 6 years old; it was about 1955 or 1956, Like almost all Leeds families we had a holiday at the beginning of August. We went to Bridlington (Brid as we called it). Loads of our neighbours went there too. My dad had a van and we all piled in my mam, dad, nanna, and us three kids squashed in the back. It was an old van – probably pre war. As we approached the fearsome Sutton Bank, my dad told everyone to get up and walk because the engine wasn’t strong enough to pull up the steep slopes. When we got to our ‘digs’ - a one room space - we saw there was an alcove with a small bed in it. That was the space for nanna who could hide her modesty behind a loose curtain. The kids slept on the floor and mam and dad had the luxury of a bed. Every day my dad got up early to drive back to Leeds because he had maintenance work to do in the factories which had closed down for the holiday period and each night he returned late. Our hero. It seems to me that it rained every day in Brid that year. But we didn't mind. On the beach every day and not allowed back into the digs till 5 in the afternoon.
What’s your favourite part of the county? I was born, grew up and have lived almost all my whole life in West Yorkshire. So readers from other parts must forgive my prejudice in favour of our cities, towns, villages, countryside, history and culture,
What’s your idea of a perfect day out in Yorkshire?
A great day is to drive up beyond Bolton Abbey. And arrive at Burnsall. You can park by the river and spend the day with a walk and then a picnic right next to the running water. Families come from all over Yorkshire to paddle, stroll or even visit the local pub or grab a coffee.
Do you have a favourite walk?
Every part of Yorkshire has beautiful countryside, bird and animal life also. Whenever I am at home I try to walk around the public footpaths in my constituency. I aim to do a minimum of 10,000 steps per day. One interesting and relatively recent development is the arrival of large birds of prey. You can often see red kites near where I live as well as buzzards circling above with their sharp eyes focussing on any opportunity to sweep down into the fields to grab a small mammal. What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity?
Yorkshire has a unique identity given the great diversity of the landscape with the great urban centres, the dales, wolds, moors, coastal areas etc. There is also a history and culture which creates a strong identity and even loyalty to the county which you do not necessarily find elsewhere. People who don’t know us very well often say we are a bit boastful. The attribute of Yorkshire which I most admire is the Rebel Spirit. If we see something wrong, we call it out - and often in the bluntest way possible.
Which Yorkshire sportsperson, past or present, would you like to take for lunch? My middle name is Hedley. I like to think it is a good Yorkshire name and I was named after the great Yorkshire slow left hand spin bowler Hedley Verity. He was born not too far from where we lived. I would love to have met him and take him to lunch. Sadly he died fighting in the war in Italy.
If you could choose something from Yorkshire to own for a day, what would it be?
I own one of the last Davey lamps ever used by a miner in one of the last Leeds’ collieries to close. It reminds me that it was the Northern working class who fought to create the wealth of our country, the titanic fight they put up to preserve a way of life, and the cruel way in which the coal industry was destroyed with no effort to replace it with new industries.
Do you follow sport in the county, and if so, what? Rugby League. Sadly my local club Featherstone Rovers has gone into liquidation but we are trying to make sure it lives again.
Do you have a favourite restaurant, or pub food shop? It’s always good to go to Farmer Copleys in Featherstone for a Sunday breakfast. They have a good shop also to buy licorice which is a local speciality
How do you think that Yorkshire has changed, for better or for worse, in the time that you’ve known it?
I don’t think Yorkshire folk have changed fundamentally, but our industries have almost all gone - clothing, mining, fishing, steel etc. I don’t think that the governing class in London fully understand the extent to which our economy has changed. Our wages, life chances, our kids’ futures, our people on the dole all face tougher lives than down south
Who is the Yorkshire person that you most admire? Some of our country’s greatest talents are from Yorkshire. Painters, sculptors, writers, philosophers, doctors and so on. We also produced some of the great rebels too. Wilberforce who drove the anti slavery movement, the working class mill girls who fought for women's suffrage, Scargill who led the Yorkshire miners, and the women against pit closures, Guy Fawkes who tried to blow up parliament was a Yorkshireman. Others have been lost to history. There are too many to pick out so let’s pay tribute to Yorkshire’s Rebel Spirit. Never sit quiet if you see an injustice
Name your favourite Yorkshire book/author/artist/CD/performer. I think that David Peace has chronicled much of our recent history. I would draw readers attention to four of his books which touched a nerve with me having been part of my own life as well as that of Yorkshire. The Red Riding Quartet is about the Yorkshire Ripper, corruption and terror which I remember well with dread. GB84 is about the miners strike, much of it in my constituency and the Damned United is a cracking yarn about Brian Clough’s short spell as manager at Leeds United.
If a stranger to Yorkshire only had time to visit one place, where should it be?
Maybe the three peaks with views across parts of the wonderful Yorkshire Dales.