Bernard Ginns: Salute to Yorkshire as yours truly exits for new venture

have to start with the Yorkshire business community. I arrived in God’s Own County to begin this role in May 2008 with the sense of nervous excitement common before all major undertakings.

The welcome was warm, genuine and lasting. London and the South East may be where the money and the power is, but Yorkshire is where the heart is.

The entrepreneurs stand out the most. Many journalists consider themselves to be mavericks of one sort or another, drawn to the trade usually because they do not fit any other mould.

The same is true, if not more so, of entrepreneurs. For most, they do what they do out of necessity. No corporate straitjackets for these individuals. They spot the opportunity, risk their money and their reputation to prove their concept.

They often get bored once the business is up and running. Professional managers they are not. Which is what makes them such good company. And good copy. There are too many to single out by name in this column, but it is true to say that without their endeavours Yorkshire would be a much poorer place.

Accountants come next. Without the bean counters, many of our entrepreneurs would be lost in a nightmare of spreadsheets. They play an essential supporting role.

Accountants make the numbers stack up for corporate Yorkshire and they put deals together to help businesses grow.

And where would we be without our learned friends, the lawyers?

Yorkshire is home to some of the brightest and best legal minds in the country, if not the world. Many national and international law firms can trace their roots back to the Broad Acres.

Yorkshire lawyers provide the trusted framework for enterprise to take place. Their efforts help make Britain one of the most attractive destinations for investors in the world.

Bankers come next. Once they were the pillars of our community. Now they are pilloried for causing the financial crisis and resulting downturn.

That is somewhat unfair, as I know a great many individuals who work tirelessly in our region to make sure households and small, medium and large businesses get the financial services they need to grow and prosper.

Yorkshire can be justly proud of its manufacturing industry, this larger than average sector that puts the power into the Northern Powerhouse. Vacuous political slogans aside, our concentration of manufacturing expertise is surely world-class and many of my most enjoyable visits have been factory tours with impassioned owners and managers. They will march on, through good times and bad, and lay to rest the lazy myth that Britain doesn’t make anything any more.

It is not all about hard work and heavy lifting though and to that end, I must pay tribute to the food and drink firms that have done so much to expand my waistline. From Fat Rascals to Landlord, they produce delicious sustenance for the men and women of the North.

Next, I would like to doff my cap to colleagues past and present at The Yorkshire Post. It has been an immense privilege to serve under this title, described by a historian in 1954 as “a paper of international repute and influence, quoted all over the world”.

That’s as true today as it was then, as demonstrated by our strident coverage of Yorkshire’s flooding catastrophe and the Government’s woeful response.

Finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank you, dear reader, for sticking with me over the last few years. Without you, none of this would have been possible.

But a new challenge beckons and I wish you well. For details email [email protected]