FLAT Caps were flung, tea sipped and Yorkshire Puddings tossed to mark Yorkshire Day.

While every day may be a Yorkshire day for some, God’s Own Country was celebrated far and wide today (Wednesday) as the annual event gained prominence.

At York’s Bishopthorpe Palace, the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu used the occasion to make a serious point - hosting an afternoon tea with Yorkshire MPs in support of One Yorkshire.

The group is campaigning for the county’s devolution, to ensure more money and power is handed over from Westminster. It wants a single elected Yorkshire mayor to represent the county’s interests.

Dr Sentamu said: “We must work together to step towards a resolution that maximises the benefit to all parts of Yorkshire. Many peoples, boroughs, councils and counties, but One Yorkshire.”

In York, the Yorkshire Declaration of Integrity was read by the Yorkshire Ridings Society at the four historic entrances to the city of Bootham Bar, Micklegate Bar, Monk Bar and Walmgate Bar.

Meanwhile, Emperor Constantine was given a Yorkshire makeover by York’s Chocolate Story, which dressed him in a flat cap and a giant KitKat and Chocolate Orange. A similarly light hearted celebration was held at York Maze with quirky Yorkshire inspired competitions and challenges including Yorkshire Pudding tossing, flat cap flinging and straw bale rolling.

In Ripon a snaking procession of mayors and lord mayors moved through the county’s smallest city.

Yorkshire Day was first celebrated in 1975 by the Yorkshire Ridings Society, formed a year earlier to protest against the local government reorganisation of the county’s traditional borders.

It is always held on August 1, a date that alludes to the Battle of Minden in Germany in 1759, which saw the Army allow soldiers to wear roses in their caps.