PROUD Tykes celebrated Yorkshire Day in York and across the broad acres with a host of events ranging from poetry readings to a Yorkshire pudding tossing competition.

In York, members of the Yorkshire Ridings Society walked a circuit of the Bar Walls on Saturday with the Yorkshire Flag, reading a Yorkshire “declaration of integrity” at four points along the route - once for each Riding and once for the City of York.

There was also aYorkshire pudding tossing competition and straw bale race at York Maze, Elvington, whose owner Tom Pearcy said the aim of the latter contest was to roll a giant round bale of straw along a 50 metre course.

The Bare Brass Band from Leeds entertained the crowds while Mr Pearcy read out the Yorkshire Declaration. The winner in the pudding throwing competition's children's category, with a throw of 22 metres, was Bethan Polley, 15, from Essex who was on holiday with her family in York, while the adult competition was won by Paul Jordan from South Bank, York, with a giant throw of 34 metres. The winners received crowns made from Yorkshire puddings.

In Beverley, the East Riding Theatre celebrated everything Yorkshire, including storytelling, poetry, music, painting, film as well as food, beer, tea and even coffee roasted in the county.

Other attractions joining in the Yorkshire Day celebrations were the National Railway Museum in York and Old Mother Shipton's Cave, in Knaresborough, while First TransPennine Express decorated stations with white rose bunting, with staff at stations including Thirsk and Malton giving out Yorkshire Day flags to people passing through.

Yorkshire Day was first celebrated by the Yorkshire Ridings Society on August 1, 1975, and has gradually grown over the years.