ON July 31, in Hull, the Yorkshire Ridings Society is to hold an official launch of the "Flag of Yorkshire". This flag is one which the society has designed and which is intended to be the flag of historic Yorkshire, rather than for any of the present counties. It is a blue field with a white double rose in the centre.

It seems arrogant to me that the Yorkshire Ridings Society should thus seek to force its own idea of a flag on all the people of Yorkshire, notably when at least two other designs have been suggested for such a flag.

One was produced some 10 or 15 years ago by Mrs Olive Snaith, of Goole; it is very similar to the design proposed by the society.

The other was produced by me at about the same time. This design has been made and flown in several parts of England and also in France, Switzerland and the US, mainly by expatriate Yorkshire people.

There may also be other people who have their own ideas of how a flag for Yorkshire should appear.

Obviously I am biased in favour of my own design. The most important fact remains that the Yorkshire Ridings Society, however honourable and praiseworthy it may be in other respects, has no right to design a flag and then present it as the emblem for the whole of historic Yorkshire.

In recent years flags have been adopted by several British counties. In most cases, certainly in those of Devon, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire and Orkney, the designs were voted on by the people of the county.

At the very least all three designs and any others which may have been offered should be shown to the people and they should decide on which flag they wish to represent them as a county.

Michael Faul

Which of the three flags do you like best? Post your comment below.