AUGUST is rich with days that encompass celebrations of various kinds and today is no exception. Yorkshire readers will not need reminding that it is Yorkshire Day when we wear white roses, eat Yorkshire puddings and greet one another by saying, “Noo then. ‘oos’t tha gahin on?” Or we might utter that famous phrase “Ee By Gum”, or use the simplest of Yorkshire greetings, which is “Now then”.

Yorkshire Day was founded in 1975 by the Yorkshire Ridings Society whose members were unhappy with the changes of 1974 which abolished the boundaries of the ancient Ridings which had existed for 1,111 years.

They were replaced with new boundaries that created North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Cleveland and Humberside. It is argued that the ancient Ridings were not abolished, merely rearranged somewhat.

A declaration in remembrance of the old Ridings will be read today at the Bars of the City of York, while establishments around the county such as inns and hotels will honour the occasion in their own special way, probably with Yorkshire puddings and other distinctive Yorkshire fare and modes of dress.

Another celebration reminds us that today is also Lammas Day and in some areas, it is known as The Gule of August. Centuries ago, Lammas was a massive pagan festival which celebrated the first fruits of the harvest. With the arrival of Christianity in these islands, the emphasis shifted towards the corn harvest when holy mass was celebrated with the communion hosts being made from the first ripened corn.

Loaves were blessed at mass and in time, the name of the festival changed to Loaf Mass. In Cumberland, this was known as Lowermass and it is thought the word derives from Lammas.

It used to be said that after Lammas, the corn ripens as much by night as it does by day. This serves to remind us also that we are in the midst of the Dog Days – canicular dies – which are said to be the hottest part of the year.

The Dog Days run from July 3 until August 11.

The word Gule is rather more obscure. Gules appears in heraldic references where it means red.

Apparently, it comes from the old French word gueules, which indicates red fur which is worn around the neck, this in turn coming from gole which meant throat. When used with reference to the month of August, however, it means something quite different. One theory is that it comes from the Welsh gwyl, which means festival. This sounds about right.

Today is also Minden Day, which commemorates the Battle of Minden fought on August 1, 1759, during the Seven Years’ War.

Members of a Yorkshire regiment took part and before the battle, they picked white roses to wear in their caps. However, on the non-Yorkshire side of the Pennines, members of the Lancashire Fusiliers ate roses – in fact, they were not considered true Fusiliers until they had eaten a rose.

It is not wise for Yorkshire folk to inquire about the colour of those munches of roses.

One of my favourite of titles for the Sunday nearest to August 1 is Domhnach na bh Fraochog Sunday, shortened sometimes to bhFraochan Sunday. This is an Irish celebration often known as Fraughan Sunday but we might translate it as either Blaeberry Sunday, Whortleberry Sunday, Hurt Sunday, Heathberry Sunday or Bilberry Sunday. Apart from picking these berries, the day is given over to jollifications.

Not surprisingly, as this is a hot month of summer, August is host to a wide range of other celebrations which include Rush Bearing Day, Lazy Lawrence Day, Bowling Tide, Bartlemy Day, St John’s Wort Day, Semerwater Day, Burnsall Feast Day, St Wilfred’s Feast Day in Ripon, Egton Bridge Old Gooseberry Show and, of course, Ebor Day on York Racecourse, first run in 1844.

After all that, we need a holiday.

Our ‘Enry One of the little known dales in this region is Scugdale, near Swainby, in the Stokesley area. It is not far from Snotterdale, Faceby and Whorlton, all wonderful names.

Scugdale, less than three miles long, is thought to have been a lake in prehistoric times and one of my reference books describes it as “the most remarkable valley among the eastern moors”. It includes the hamlet of Huthwaite and in the early 19th century there was iron ore mining here of which no trace remains. The name “Scugdale” means “shady valley”. In spite of its isolation and small size, Scugdale has produced two famous and remarkable people. One was Henry Cooper who, by 1890, had grown to a height of 8ft 6ins (2.34m).

At that time, he was the world’s tallest living man and he worked locally as a farm labourer. However, he was spotted by someone with connections and Henry soon found himself working for Barnum & Bailey’s Circus. He toured America with the circus, and one of his companions on those trips was the equally renowned Jumbo the Elephant. Henry married a tall woman who was also a circus performer but sadly he died, in England, at the early age of 32.

The other personality from Scugdale was Elizabeth Harland, who lived to the ripe old age of 105. She died in 1812 but I have no record of her being exhibited in a circus or elsewhere.

Canon Kyle Another story comes from Carlton-in- Cleveland. It was home of the legendary Canon J L Kyle who was renowned as the farming parson. He owned the Village Inn, rode with the hunt, bred a herd of black-faced moorland sheep and managed to find time to run three farms.

You couldn’t make it up, although if you did you might be surprised to find it published in one of the country’s best-loved and longest running weekly newspapers, which still costs He died in 1943 and was well known to my predecessor, Major J Fairfax- Blakeborough, and I am sure some “Canon Kyle” tales appeared in his column.

There is one everlasting story about the Canon. One of his farming parishioners was having a hard time because his crops were dying, and so he called on the Canon to ask for prayers for rain to ease the situation.

The Canon replied: “Thoo dissn’t want rain; thoo wants muck.”

There is another story of a Carlton vicar, George Sangar, who arrived in the 19th century to find the church almost derelict. With no money available for its reconstruction, he set about restoring it himself. He raised some cash and worked day and night, even carrying the stones himself.

He finished it in 1881 but shortly after completion, a fire broke out and destroyed all his work. He was actually charged with setting fire to his own church but was acquitted.

Another church, based on designs by Temple Moor and dating from 1897, now stands on the site.

The lych-gate followed in 1912. The other thing I discovered about Carlton-in-Cleveland is that it used to have a maypole, but it vanished a century or so ago. I wonder if someone set fire to it?