Keeping the Yorkshire dialect alive

Glenys Holdsworth from Bridlington came second and Alan Walker from Batley came third in the dialect speaking section.

His wife, Carol, who has come first in previous years, also entered the competition.

She said: “It’s so important to keep the dialect alive by reading it and speaking it.

“Kids these days just don’t use the kind of language we use in these poems anymore.”

The society, which comprises members of Dewsbury U3A, meets every Friday at Dewsbury Town Hall and has members from Dewsbury, Mirfield and the surrounding towns.

It was set up 10 years ago by Thornhill woman Elsie Haywood along with founder members Dorothy Fearnsides and Jean Farrow.

Watch Mrs Walkers entry – a reading of Yorkshire poet John Hartley’s ‘A ha’p’orth’.