TEN MOMENTS THAT DEFINED THE DECADE FOR YORKSHIRE
The last ten years have brought triumph, tragedy and transformation to Yorkshire. Chris Burn looks back at some of the region’s most memorable moments during the 2010s.
1. CAMERON CAUGHT OUT
“WE JUST thought people in Yorkshire hated everyone else, we didn’t realise they hated each other so much.” It was a remark never intended for public consumption, but Prime Minister David Cameron was left with a red face after being caught on microphone making a joke about the region’s competing devolution proposals, ahead of a speech in Leeds, in 2015.
Wakefield Council leader Peter Box admitted there was “some truth” in what Mr Cameron insisted was a lighthearted remark, but Leeds Council leader Judith Blake took a dim view of the Prime Minister’s comment, saying that the people of Yorkshire were “the friendliest in the world”.
Despite the denials, it is fair to say the campaign for devolution has been a difficult process for Yorkshire in the years that have followed, with the situation still unresolved for the region as other parts of the country reap the benefits of increased powers and investment.
2. YORKSHIRE’S GOLD RUSH LONDON 2012 was one of the great highlights of the decade for the UK – thanks in no small part to the efforts of athletes from Yorkshire. Our sportsmen and women collectively claimed seven gold medals, two silver and three bronzes over the course of the Games, a tally which would have put Yorkshire 12th in the medal table if it had been treated as a country.
There were many extraordinary moments during the Games, but perhaps the one which best exemplified Yorkshire’s contribution to national celebrations was Jessica EnnisHill winning gold in the heptathlon in front of 80,000 people in the Olympic Stadium on ‘Super Saturday’. Her triumph was the first of three golds in 45 minutes for the British team, with Greg Rutherford winning the long jump and Mo Farah finishing first in the 10,000m.
Another amazing sporting moment of the decade was provided at Headingley this summer by Ben Stokes as the all-rounder hit an extraordinary 135 not out against Australia to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in front of a joyous home crowd.
3. HULL GOES BLUE
HULL’S INCREDIBLE year as UK City of Culture in 2017 included many amazing highlights. But the moment which showed the city really meant business came in summer 2016 when over 3,000 volunteers stripped naked and were painted blue for an art project called Sea of Hull, by photographer Spencer Tunick, in readiness for the year of celebrations.
Hull was far from the only place in the region to increase its cultural cachet in the last 10 years. The Leeds First Direct Arena opened in 2013, while a £16m redevelopment of the West Yorkshire Playhouse and a name change to Leeds Playhouse was completed this year.
The £35m Hepworth Wakefield art gallery opened in 2011, while the extraordinary restoration of the Piece Hall, in Halifax, was finished in 2017.
The next decade also offers much promise for the region’s cultural scene, given Channel 4’s impending move to Leeds. 4. CYCLING HITS THE HEIGHTS MILLIONS LINED the streets as the Tour de France’s opening stage was held in Yorkshire in 2014 – with a combination of the massive crowds and stunning scenery leading race director Christian Prudhomme to describe the county’s Grand Depart as the “grandest” in the competition’s century-old history.
The success of the event was summed up as Buttertubs Pass, in the Yorkshire Dales, was transformed into the Cote de Buttertubs and an estimated 10,000 spectators crammed onto the narrow hillside road to cheer on the world’s best endurance riders.
The annual Tour de Yorkshire cycling race was set up as a result and Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Gary Verity, who was instrumental in bringing the Tour de France to the region, received a knighthood.
But feelings towards cycling in Yorkshire have somewhat soured this year, with Sir Gary resigning on health grounds from Welcome to Yorkshire amidst bullying and expenses allegations, while there was criticism in Harrogate over the damage done to The Stray parkland as a result of hosting a ‘fan zone’ for the UCI Road World Championships. However, nothing will take away from the memories of that glorious weekend in July 2014.
5. MURDER OF JO COX
ONE OF the darkest days for the region fell on June 16, 2016, when Jo Cox, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen, was murdered by a far-right terrorist as she was on her way to a constituency surgery in Birstall in the run-up to the Brexit referendum.
Retired miner Bernard Carter Kenny, who was stabbed as he came to Cox’s aid, was subsequently awarded the George Medal for his bravery. Cox’s husband Brendan said on the day of her death: “She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love, and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her.”
Following her death, the Jo Cox Foundation organised ‘Great Get Together’ events, designed to bring communities together and focusing on one of her core beliefs that she had set out in her maiden Parliamentary speech; “We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us.”
6. KELLINGLEY COLLIERY CLOSES THE CLOSURE of Kellingley Colliery – the last deep coal mine in Britain – in December 2015 brought down the curtain on what was once one of the country’s most successful industries.
In 1900, more than one million people were employed at 3,000 collieries and by the time ‘Big K,’ as it was known, arrived in 1958, the tide was already turning to some extent, with more machinery resulting in fewer jobs. Kellingley was originally hailed as a new generation of coalmining and was the largest deep pit in Europe.
Even into the mid-1980s, there were more than 50 pits in operation in Yorkshire; 30 years later the lights went out for good at Kellingley.
But as one door closes, others have opened. The Advanced Manufacturing
Park in South Yorkshire, located on the former Orgreave site, has grown greatly in the last decade with new additions, including specialist facilities for McLaren and Rolls-Royce.
7. TADCASTER BRIDGE COLLAPSES THERE IS barely a part of Yorkshire that has not been assailed by the misery of flooding in the past ten
years, but perhaps the most symbolic moment came with the collapse of Tadcaster Bridge on December 29, 2015, splitting the town in two and fracturing a gas main that resulted in the evacuation of hundreds of residents.
The initial response of the authorities left much to be desired, with the head of the Environment
Agency Sir Philip Dilley on holiday in the Caribbean as thousands of homes in the North were flooded and Environment Secretary Liz Truss criticised over the imbalance in flood defence spending between Yorkshire and London.
Repairing the bridge was made a “national priority” and it eventually reopened in February 2017.
8. SCANDAL EXPOSED
ON AUGUST 26, 2014, Professor Alexis Jay revealed the devastating findings of her inquiry into grooming gangs in Rotherham.
“Our conservative estimate is that approximately 1,400 children were sexually exploited over the full inquiry period, from 1997 to 2013,” she said.
The report revealed that police had treated victims with “contempt” and there had been “blatant” failures from the council’s leadership, with senior managers underplaying the issue.
It led to multiple resignations from council bosses and police and crime commissioner Shaun Wright, while eventual trials have brought many perpetrators to justice.
Trials and investigations are still ongoing, as is a police watchdog inquiry into alleged cases of police corruption.
9. NORTHERN POWERHOUSE OFFICE MOVES TO LONDON
THE ‘NORTHERN Powerhouse’ was one of Chancellor George Osborne’s most cherished ideas to rebalance the UK’s economy, but eyebrows about the concept were frequently raised as austerity hit public services, councils and transport in the North.
The apparent gap between what the Government was saying and what it was doing was exemplified in January 2016 when it was announced that its ‘Northern Powerhouse department’ – the one for Business, Innovation and Skills – was to shut its Sheffield office and move 247 jobs to London.
10. KEN’S WITHERING ASSESSMENT
YORKSHIRE FOLK value straighttalking and one of the most famous examples came with Sir Ken Morrison’s public attack on Dalton Phillips, the chief executive of the supermarket that bore his family name.
Sir Ken told an annual shareholders meeting in June 2014 that he was distinctly unimpressed with Mr Phillips’ explanation for falling sales. “When I left work and started working as a hobby, I chose to raise cattle,” Sir Ken said. “I have something like 1,000 bullocks and, having listened to your presentation, Dalton, you‘ve got a lot more bull **** than me.”
Mr Phillips left his post six months later.