PEOPLE in Redcar and Cleveland this week celebrated their Yorkshire history.

The area was stripped of its Yorkshire name with the creation in the Seventies of Cleveland county .

The North Riding branch of the Yorkshire Ridings Society, which has a strong presence in Redcar and Cleveland and Middlesbrough, says Yorkshire is a geographical county with its three Ridings in the North, West and East and was set up more than 1,000 years before local government.

To celebrate Yorkshire's identity and heritage, the society established Yorkshire Day on August 1, 1975. Events have taken place annually since then.

On Wednesday the Yorkshire Declaration of Integrity was read in Old Norse, Latin, Old English and Modern English at Redcar, Marske, Saltburn, Staithes and Whitby. The declaration is an oath of allegiance to Yorkshire and can be taken by anyone who wants to demonstrate their association with the country's biggest county.

In Redcar and Cleveland it was read by Rex Greenwood, who is better known as a real life Captain Cook in Whitby.

It followed similar events on Saturday in Eston, Thornaby, Guisborough, Skelton, Brotton and Loftus.