As Harry Gration receives a posthumous award, Christa Ackroyd reflects on the importance of friendship

To which I would also add, as with everything in life, you get back that which you put in.

It is easy to be friendly, much more difficult to be a true friend and the one thing we all know is that fair weather friends we absolutely do not need. What’s more you only find out who they are when you need them the most and they are nowhere to be seen.

This last week I had the honour but also, for one, the real sadness of celebrating the achievements of two of my greatest friends.

If the Oscars are on the television tomorrow then the Oscars of the North have always been the Yorkshire Awards, organised for the last 35 years by the Yorkshire Society, the very same group of people who invented Yorkshire Day which we celebrate each August 1.

Some may think is an unnecessary pat on the back for God’s Own County but I happen to believe, in a world of so-called levelling up (which in my book hasn’t happened yet despite all the talk) it is a time to remind those in the South, particularly those in politics, that they ignore us at their peril. And that they don’t know what they are missing.

And so it was at the Hilton Hotel last week we honoured our champions. Dr Amir Khan the Bradford GP who is the very best advocate for the NHS on the television and off, and ended his acceptance speech with a call to pay our nurses properly. Who could disagree?

Lindsey Burrows, an incredible woman who remains strong and true for her husband Rob, who was there beaming with pride when she was named Yorkshire woman of the year to a standing ovation.

And Jet2, our very own airline, which continues to fly the flag for our county quite literally after 20 years.

Also the wonderful Dr Arthur France who decided way back in 1967 in Chapeltown, Leeds, to organise the first West Indian Carnival in Europe bringing communities together in the best way possible in a celebration of music and culture which has achieved more to foster race relations than any think tank could dream of.

But I was there in particular to celebrate the achievements of two of my greatest friends, friends who stood by me through thick and thin as all true friends do.

After my rather abrupt departure from the BBC many ran for the hills. Gossip abounded. I was the subject of many newspaper headlines and even the programme I had presented for 13 years ran pieces about me announcing I had been sacked.

Despite a court case where a judge described me as honest and without blame, mud sticks. I know I still get comments on this very column of people who didn’t know me and who certainly didn’t know the whole story. Well for them it may be of interest to know that last month, after ten years, the BBC finally made recompense for what they admitted to a Parliamentary committee had been a mistake with the contracts they issued.

I have long since got over the hurt and yes the humiliation, but that was largely because of those who remained resolute in their friendship. And two of them were honoured last week, so how could I not be there?

Paul Stead heads Daisybeck, the TV production company which continues to shine a light on Yorkshire with such beloved programmes as Yorkshire Vet and On the Farm, featuring the wonderful Nicholson family, who incidentally were the first people to hire me after the BBC.

Paul also have me the chance to get back on the telly with Our Great Yorkshire life, which was a joy and one for which I am truly grateful.

They say life is full of circles which rejoin after all the years. And it was an emotional moment when Paul reminded the audience that I had given him his first job at Radio Aire which began his career and changed his life. I make no such claims, talent rises with determination, hard work, passion and belief, but everyone needs a start, and from that our friendship was cemented and repaid a hundred times.

But nothing could have prepared us for when another great friend, Stephanie Hirst, whom incidentally Paul gave her first break in radio, arranged an extra surprise.

Still working for the company who bought Radio Aire, after the ceremony she secretly arranged to meet in the car park of our former Burley Road studios and with Paul and his wife we went inside to remember the start of our friendship, dare I say it almost 40 years ago.

There we laughed and cried and reminisced and I will never forget that moment at midnight when the circle was complete and we were all back where it began.

And so to Harry Gration, oh my lovely friend gone too soon and never ever to be forgotten. As his widow Helen picked up his posthumous Lifetime Achievement reward I was reminded again how some friendships remain no matter what.

I last saw Harry three weeks before he died at my birthday party. We both said we loved each other. Always important because as we were to experience you never know when a meeting is to be your last.

The day before he died, leaving us all so shocked and bereft, we had arranged to meet for lunch the following week with another of my closest friends Kathryn Apanowicz, Richard Whiteley’s widow, who incidentally in whose name was the award Paul picked up and the first person Paul had ever interviewed. You see what I mean about circles. Harry we miss you. You were a friend for life. And the first person I wanted to call when the BBC finally came through.

That you were honoured with an award is fitting, just as it is an honour and always will to call you my friend.

So to everyone, cherish and nurture your friendships, know who your true friends are and stay true to them. I may add it was rather wonderful to see the lovely Christine Talbot host the awards, another friend whose love and support I will always treasure. Because that’s what friends are there for, to be treasured. There are many more, you know who you are, and yes as the song says even if you only have a handful, they are all you need, all you will ever need to get by.