THE jamboree that is Welcome to Yorkshire’s annual conference to promote the region took place this week.
I hadn’t been to one of the events since Y15 two years ago, so was interested to see what this year’s event would be called.
So there I was at Y17 at the York Theatre Royal.
While the theatre itself has an impressive auditorium, the communal areas were a bit limiting for the 700-plus individuals who attended the event.
But spirits were high as I squeezed my way through the throng.
As well as those employed in the region’s tourist industry, the event attracts sports people, politicians, entrepreneurs and celebrity bloggers (if you have to ask who, then I’m not telling you).
The first people I saw were Tom Riordan and Wallace Sampson, the chief executives of Leeds and Harrogate councils.
They were huddled in a part of the room I dubbed ‘council corner’, probably trying to avoid being accosted by householders with wheelie bin issues.
I made my way towards a part of the room where Seabrooks Crisps were being handed out.
It turns out that one of the Seabrooks team, a large imposing individual, is an avid reader of this weekly missive and was keen for the firm to get a mention in exchange for a few bags of their new lattice variety.
When it comes to the independence of the Press, I’m up there with George Osborne.
I also asked him if the lycra, slim fit branded polo shirt he was wearing was available to the general public, because it looked like a great cycling jersey.
“It’s not lycra or slim fit boss,” he replied, as I shuffled off quickly in search of a cup of coffee.
Finding the Gary Verity Fan Club had occupied the entire stalls and the dress circle, I made my way to the upper circle, or ‘the gods’ as it used to be known.
Y17 started with the scarlet tunic clad band of the Yorkshire Regiment marching onto the stage.
The lights went down and the drummers beat out a tune with luminous drumsticks.
It reminded me of the fluorescent wands that clubbers used to wield in the air at raves in Ibiza.
My sister told me about them.
Back on stage the drummers had done their stuff and a couple of sofas had been positioned on stage where host Rob Walker and Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Sir Gary Verity sat with four members of the Yorkshire Regiment who will be among 400 soldiers who will be posted to Kabul in Afghanistan in August.
Apparently they are currently in the middle of an intensive programme of training that will include a stint on manoeuvres in Wales.
If they can survive a Saturday night out on Caroline Street in Cardiff or Wind Street in Swansea, then Afghanistan will be a breeze.
The subtitle for Y17 was ‘Yorkshire on Show’ and nobody does that better than the region’s cheerleader Welcome to Yorkshire.
Leeds City Council leader Judith Blake had also embraced the title, wearing a lovely new frock, as she told the audience about the city’s bid to be European Capital of Culture in 2023.
Leeds has produced a video to promote the bid that is as contrived and painfully trendy as the BBC’s efforts to promote this year’s FA Cup.
The difference is that the BBC films last 20 seconds and this one goes on for five minutes.
News that Leeds band the Kaiser Chiefs would be at the event had been greeted with excitement.
There was no sign of frontman Ricky and his colleagues Simon and Peanut didn’t sing, but earnestly backed the 2023 bid.
From Leeds we dashed down the M62 to Hull to hear how its City of Culture year is doing and onto the stage bounded Rosie Millard.
The former BBC arts correspondent is chair of Hull City of Culture and is perhaps best remembered for an appearance reporting from the Oscars in a low cut dress.
It prompted newsreader Michael Buerk to make the comment: “That was Rosie Millard and the best supporting dress.”
Suddenly it struck me that my vantage point in the upper circle would give me a grandstand view should Rosie opt for another revealing outfit.
Unfortunately she was wearing a rather conservative trouser suit with the top button firmly done up.
But Sir Gary’s chest hair and Rob Walker’s vest did look resplendent from where I sat.
Rosie is an energetic individual and an enthusiastic advocate of all things Hull. She is also the only person who can make Sir Big V look subdued.
“I’m out of breath listening to that,” Gary told presenter Rob Walker after Rosie’s soliloquy to Kingston-upon-Hull.
Yorkshire’s only maritime city is doing a great job during its year in the arts and culture spotlight and is well worth a visit.
Apparently Radio 1 is holding its Big Weekend in Hull this year.
Rosie said this was a “very interesting iteration”, but I think the 16 to 19-year-olds it is aimed at are more interested in hearing that Katy Perry and Stormzy will be performing.
Then it was onto the railways and an announcement that on St George’s Day the fully restored Flying Scotsman will take part in a world first on the East Coast Main Line.
It will be part of a stunt in which four generations of trains – the Flying Scotsman, an HST, an intercity225 and the new Virgin Azuma train that will come into service next year – will travel side by side in the same direction for the first time.
Apparently it isn’t easy to close a major railway line like this.
Well, unless there is a bit of snow or a few leaves on the line.
I hope the event works out well for Virgin Trains.
Given it struggles to get the hot food warmed up on some of its services, you do have to wonder.
From there we moved onto sport and it was no surprise that the Tour de Yorkshire cycle race was centre stage.
Yorkshire’s prominence in the sport was underlined recently by cycling legend Eddie Merckx describing it as the new “European capital of cycling”, a crown he said it had wrested from his native Belgium.
What I like is the legacy that a great two days hosting the Grand Depart of the Tour de France in 2014 has done for the county.
Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries is one fantastic initiative – providing 36,000 children with the chance to borrow and ride a bicycle.
Y17 wasn’t just about cycling.
The Brownlee brothers sent a video message, Yorkshireman Joe Root was named England cricket captain this year and York’s Ebor Festival of racing will see the feature Juddmonte International Stakes boast £1m of prize money for the first time this summer.
Things are on the up.
As I made my way out of the theatre onto the sunny streets of York, watching the tourists from every corner of the world looking in wonder at the sights of this great city, I felt a spring in my step.
With what seems like a daily diet of negative news, it is great to accentuate the positives.
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GEORGE Osborne’s efforts to justify being able to represent his constituents in Tatton as well as being the editor of the Evening Standard are a masterclass in political posturing.
I don’t know how much the good people of the Cheshire market town saw of the former Chancellor of the Exchequer before he put himself forward for his new job.
But it is not like he was short of work. He already had about a million quid’s worth of income from his work outside Parliament.
The preening, London luvvie loving owner of the Evening Standard, Evgeny Lebedev, must have wet himself when he heard Osbo wanted the job.
He had probably already offered it to Kate Moss and Liz Hurley.
I’m more concerned that one of Osborne’s other jobs counts him out of the demanding role of being a newspaper editor.
Investment firm Blackrock is paying him £650,000 a year for a day a week of sage advice.
Surely he has to give up that role if he is to sit impartially at the helm of one of Britain’s biggest newspapers?
If not, then nothing the Standard writes about Blackrock can ever be taken seriously again.
Quite frankly, if George Osborne is fit to be a newspaper editor, then I could be Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Dull, forgetful of manifesto promises that are less than two years old and prone to what Private Eye terms a “reverse ferret”.
Pass the red box, Phil.
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FRESH from a dinner in Manchester to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, where no Guinness was served, I made my way back across the Pennines last Friday morning for the Ward Hadaway Fastest 50 Awards.
The event, at Leeds venue Aspire, celebrates the 50 businesses that have grown the quickest over the last three years.
Guest speaker was Larry Gould, the charismatic boss of thebigword, the Leeds translation business which has enjoyed phenomenal success.
Larry is certainly a livewire, enough to make even Phil Jordan of Ward Hadaway look like a shrinking violet.
I’ve met and interviewed Larry a number of times and he is certainly entertaining with a flamboyant campness that makes Larry Grayson look butch.
He is the author of the book ‘Great Retirement Great Sex – How to retire and still have a great sex life’.
“Have you read it?” I asked a fellow guest.
“Yes, it’s really boring,” he replied.
Back on stage Larry was asking who in the audience was a sales person.
About four people put their hands up.
He then asked how many had spoken to someone about their business in the previous 24 hours.
Everybody put their hands up.
Well, everyone except me, I’m something of a rebel.
“So you are all really sales people,” said Larry with a wave of his hands.
He then asked the question: “Who here is irresistible?”
There was an uncomfortable silence, then Rob Lawrence of Barclays put his hand up.
Those of us standing near him shuffled away, leaving him to turn and implore: “I didn’t mean me, I meant the bank”
Have a great weekend.