Malcolm Walker: My Yorkshire

What’s your first Yorkshire memory?

I was born and brought up in Cheshire, so Yorkshire is my adoptive home. I vividly remember being demobbed from the RAF, and going up to Middlesbrough for an interview with ICI. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was revelling in the beautiful scenery as I went along, and then, all of a sudden, that incredible industrial melting pot is laid out in front of you. What a shock to the system and what a huge contrast between the two.

What’s your favourite part of the county – and why?

There’s a lot of be said for South Yorkshire, where Jackie and I now live, and we are really content with our village life, but we still love the north, with all those rolling hills and surprises at every turn. The great thing about living on Teesside, as we did for many years, was that we could get out of it so quickly, and I have a lot of very happy memories of taking my three sons on camping and walking trips.

What’s your idea of a perfect day, or a perfect weekend, out in Yorkshire?

Going up to the Esk Valley, and having a long ramble up there, past Grosmont, hopefully with my lads alongside me. There used to be a Scout centre up there where we used to stay.

Do you have a favourite walk – or view?

The coast by Old Saltburn is always a lovely sight to me – if you look ahead or to your right, and not to the industrialised scene to your left. There’s a sort of faded grandeur to the town, but it has a lot to commend it – the water lift is fun, and there’s some grand walking. I also like Staithes, and Sand’s End, and Whitby.

Which Yorkshire sportsman, past or present, would you like to take for lunch?

I follow Doncaster Rovers but I’m not a diehard fan. In fact, if you really push me, I couldn’t actually name any of the new players. So I’m going to go for that remarkable man of cricket, Dickie Bird, who I have admired from afar for a very long time. He always seems to be compassionate, was always fair, and also had a twinkle in his eye. What’s not to like?

Which Yorkshire stage or screen star, past or present, would you like to take for dinner?

Lesley Garrett, a South Yorkshire lass who has never forgotten her roots – in fact, she celebrates them cheerfully. She’s a tireless worker for charities, has a terrific voice and all the people I know who’ve met her (lucky devils) say that “what you see is what you get”, a really warm-hearted lass. So I’d happily take her for dinner, especially if she serenaded me at the end of it.

If you had to name your Yorkshire hidden gem, what would it be?

There’s a stretch of Roman road up near Wheeldale Moor, maybe half-a-mile long at the most. It’s in the middle of Cropton Forest, quite close to Newton under Rawcliffe, and it still has the ruts in it that were made by the chariots. Quite amazing, a sort of Roman stretch of motorway. You go and see it, and it’s like touching history.

What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity?

It has to be the people. Along with the stunning landscapes. The folk here are sometimes rather blunt and matter of fact, but after a while you warm to that forthrightness, and I’d rather be told the truth and get an honest opinion than have someone pussy-footing around.

Do you follow sport in the county, and if so, what?

Like a lot of folk these days, I believe that the vast majority of football players are hideously over-paid, and that they really couldn’t care less for which team they appeared for as long as their bank balance is taken care of. I was a great fan of the late Wilf Mannion, the Golden Boy, who used to play for Middlesbrough. He’d work during the week, and turn out for his team on a Saturday. Sunday was a day off, and it was back through the factory gates again on the Monday. He’d be found in the Norman Conquest pub, in Normanton, after a home match, and everyone adored him.

Do you have a favourite restaurant, or pub?

A regular date for me is Thursday evening down at the Carpenter’s Arms in Westwoodside, where I meet up with a group of blokes, all around my own age (I’m 65 now) and we put the world to rights for a couple of hours over a pint or two.

Do you have a favourite food shop?

We are both fans of Doncaster Market which isn’t what it was (or so everyone says) but it’s still an incredible place to me. I don’t produce enough honey from my 16 hives to stock any of the stalls down there but I love checking out what is on offer.

How do you think that Yorkshire has changed, for better or for worse, in the time that you’ve known it?

Swings and roundabouts, I’m afraid. It’s a lot cleaner, but a lot of fine buildings seem to have vanished, along with work opportunities for the youngsters. There’s a horrendous decline in industry. We need more apprenticeships. On the bright side, Yorkshire tourism seems to be going from strength to strength, and that brings in a lot of money – some days in Whitby you can’t find a parking place anywhere.

Who is the Yorkshire person that you most admire?

David Blunkett, the Sheffield Brightside MP. That man – regardless of all politics – should be an inspiration to us all. He came from a poor family but despite his disability, rose to the very top. I don’t think that he’s ever been compromised, and his integrity is 100 per cent.

Has Yorkshire influenced your work?

Yes, indeed – or rather, it has influenced my hobby. What I knew about bees and bee-keeping a few years back could be written on the head of a pin, but today (and I’m still learning) I head courses for it at a local nursery. There’s a regular monthly meeting for bee-keepers and bee aficionados at Parklands Hall, off Wheatley Hall Road, in Doncaster. I think that we are slowly convincing the farming community that unless they stop using wretched pesticides and cutting back on vital wild meadowland and hedgerows, we are going to be in deep, deep trouble. When I tell people that every hive has, at its peak, over 7,000 bees in it, they gasp in amazement. But those thousands can be gone in a twinkle, and bees are essential to the well-being of us all.

Name your favourite Yorkshire book/author/artist/CD/performer.

Well, I can’t have Arthur Askey singing The Bee Song, can I, because he was a proud Liverpudlian, so I’m going to go for Peter Walker, who is the author of books like Bobby on the Beat, which was the basis for Heartbeat all those years back.

If a stranger to Yorkshire only had time to visit one place, it would be?

I’d send them off on a round trip to Helmsley, then to Richmond, and back over to Whitby for a cup of tea and some fish and chips. An area of so many happy memories. A friend of ours was visiting from New Zealand recently and we sent him off to lots of interesting places. One evening he came home and he said, “You know, Great Britain is really just a floating museum, isn’t it?” He’s right, and we should celebrate what we have.