BBC celebrates Yorkshire Day by setting the county to music (Video)

The specially-composed 15-minute piece, with lyrics by 98-year-old great grandmother Doreen Brigham from Harrogate, has taken five months to produce and involved more than 200 musicians from across the county including a harpist from Haworth, a folk group from Hull, Columbian drummers from Leeds, the York Minster carillon player and a Sheffield brass band.

It will be broadcast simultaneously on Radios York, Leeds, Sheffield and Humberside at 11am on Sunday, with an accompanying film on Look North the following evening.

Composed by Benjamin Till, the project involved open auditions and a competition to write the lyrics to a new Yorkshire anthem plus filming at iconic places all over the county.

Mr Till said: "This has been the most difficult, complicated, ambitious project that I have ever done - incredibly hard work but hugely rewarding. Yorkshire people have to be among the proudest people on the planet.

"It's been an enormous thrill and a great honour to be able to write a piece of music which brings so many Yorkshire-based musicians from so many different musical traditions together and I really hope I have done the county proud."

Mrs Brigham was the winner of a competition to supply lyrics for the symphony and is featured reading the last line of the poem in the film.

She said: "I am completely overcome. I love writing poetry and am absolutely thrilled that the words have been put to music."

Her lyrics read:

Sing a song of Yorkshire, from the Humber to the Tees

Of horses, wool and terriers, of pudding and of cheese

I know no other county where the land is quite so fine

England's lovely county. And I'm proud to call it mine

Where shining purple heather stretches far across the moor

And the lapwing's cry above me takes the place of traffic roar

And peace comes drifting gently, there's no place I'd rather be

Than this land of hills and valleys, from the Pennines to the sea

So when I've done my roaming, and when my step grows slow

When heart and mind assure me that the time has come to go

Then let me rest in Yorkshire, for its there I want to lie

'Neath sun and wind and heather... and a gleaming Yorkshire sky

BBC Head of Yorkshire, Helen Thomas said: Over the past five months we've met some incredible people from all over Yorkshire all with a story to tell. It has been a huge privilege and I hope everyone will enjoy listening and watching the symphony."

Click the screen above to watch a preview of the film.