Mike Harding (View Discography)

Release Info

"Nowhere are the traditions of Christmas kept up with such splendour as in Yorkshire"

That's what a visitor to the county wrote in 1812. To find out how true it is today, Mike Harding sets out to explore the many and varied ways Christmas is still celebrated across the three Ridings.

En route he enjoys some living Yorkshire traditions with the Village Carollers from the South Pennines, Knaresborough Mummers, Grenoside Sword Dancers, Leyburn Ladies Choir, Hawes Silver Prize Band and East Witton Male Voice Choir.

In York he learns how today's Christmas traditions were influenced by the Pagan festivities of the distant past; in Malton, how the town inspired Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol; in Haworth, how the Brontës spent Christmas, while on the East Coast he discovers that turkeys were first introduced into Britain by a Yorkshireman from Bridlington.