Stuart Duffy: My Yorkshire

STUART Duffy was born in Leeds and ran away to join Billy Smart’s Circus. He has been the football manager at Bradford Bulls since 1998 and held the same position for six years with Leeds Rhinos. He’s a professional musician and ran two music shops for 20 years. He plays guitar with the Collier Dixon Line country band.

What’s your first memory of being outdoors?

I can remember going to Scarborough with my mother and father. I must have been about three. I remember the cobbled walkway, near the seafood outlets. I go there quite regularly to play my guitar and I always drive along the front and look at those cobbles.

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

I love the area around Ingleton and Hawes. A friend, Alan Shutt, runs the Station Inn at Ribblehead and I love to go there, spend the day in the area and call in for one of their great meals like sausage and mash.

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

I like to spend Saturday shopping in Wetherby. It’s a great town full of nice people and shops, then maybe spend the afternoon watching a junior Rugby League game and then a trip to the Aagrah Restaurant at Tadcaster to finish off.

Do you have a favourite walk, or view?

The area around Whernside and Ingleborough is spectacular and I love the Ingleton waterfalls walk but I am as happy walking with my partner Jennifer round Roundhay Park Lake three times a week.

Which Yorkshire sportsman/woman (past or present) would you like to take for lunch?

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I am lucky in counting a lot of great Yorkshire sportsmen among my friends. Most of the great Leeds Rugby team from the 1960s are people I know very well and obviously all the Bulls players from the great years from 1998 to now. People like the great Neil Fox and an honorary Yorkshireman in Lewis Jones. If I had to choose one it would have to be Fred Trueman. He was a legend and along with Denis Lillee and Michael Holding the best fast bowler there has ever been.

Which Yorkshire stage or screen star (past or present) would you like to take for lunch?

Dame Judi Dench. She epitomises Yorkshire. Full of character.

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

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It’s not very hidden, but the first glimpse of the Ribblehead Viaduct as you approach it from Hawes is an amazing sight.

What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity?

The people. Whether they are from the Dales, the Wolds, Leeds, Sheffield, Barnsley or Castleford they all have that unique Yorkshire personality. They don’t suffer fools gladly, call a spade a spade and have their own Yorkshire identity.

What about sport?

I grew up watching Leeds (Rhinos) and one day I was working for them – amazing. But I am very much a Bradford Bulls supporter now. The club is a fantastic organisation. I lived in Thornhill for 25 years and developed a soft spot for Huddersfield Town. I always look for their result. I used to be a member of Yorkshire County Cricket Club but stopped when I went to work for Leeds at Headingley. But I follow them every day in the summer and get very frustrated watching them on TV when they aren’t doing as well as I think they should be.

What about Yorkshire’s cultural life?

Wherever you go in the county it’s diversity – from knurr and spell in Huddersfield, to dry stone walling in the dales, to fishing in Hull and Whitby.

Do you have a favourite restaurant or pub?

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I like any of the Aagrah chain of restaurants, Mohammed Aslam has developed a fine business. I like fish and chips from the Cove in Otley. But having spent 45 years playing guitar in working men’s clubs I don’t really go to the pub unless I am working in one.

Do you have a favourite food shop?

Keelham Hall Farm Shop at Queensbury is fantastic. Great food and great value. For everyday stuff you can’t beat Morrisons.

How do you think Yorkshire has changed in the time you’ve known it?

The culture has changed and working in Bradford I have noticed that more than most. The diverse cultures have blended in well and it’s all part of the Yorkshire mix of people. The heavy industry that I grew up with has mostly gone and my father would be amazed at the transformation of the riverside in Leeds. He was from Camp Field in Holbeck and he could never have imagined the housing and restaurants that are in that area now.

Are those changes for the better?

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I think so. I can be very nostalgic for lots of things – the trams in Leeds spring to mind. But we have to move with the times and Yorkshire is as good a place now as it’s ever been.

Who is the Yorkshire man or woman you most admire?

It would have to be a sportsman. I knew the late John Holmes very well and he was a very great person, so he would be up there with the best of them. Brian Close and Ray Illingworth too were people I admired when I was growing up as well as many people in the entertainment business in Yorkshire, like Peter Wallace.

How has Yorkshire influenced your work?

It’s given me a great work ethic. I often work seven days a week and I wouldn’t change it at all. I love the job. Love playing the guitar. When I was growing up I was taught always to do your best and if I have managed that then I am very happy.

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

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Can I be greedy and have a few? I like Alan Bennett’s plays. Wuthering Heights is a great book and again so obviously Yorkshire. Music has been my life and in the 60s I was a great fan of Dave Berry and then Joe Cocker. I used to know Jeff Christie who wrote Yellow River. Now I like the Arctic Monkeys and Kaiser Chiefs. They all have the Yorkshire stamp on them.