A thousand school pupils celebrated 2,000 years of Yorkshire history during a colourful parade paying tribute to the white rose county.

The White Rose Parade, one of the children’s highlights of the tenth annual Saltaire Festival , brought colour and spectacle to Roberts Park yesterday as youngsters from five primary schools in the Bradford district performed significant events in Yorkshire’s history on stages in the park, watched by fellow pupils and their families.

An artist-in-residence has also been working with the children to prepare costumes and props for the event, which received a boost with a £1,500 award from the Co-operative Membership Community Fund.

Event organiser and Saltaire resident Hattie Townsend said: “The children have been working very hard to bring to life their ideas for this panorama of Yorkshire history, from the giant of Rombald’s Moor through the entire history of Yorkshire to the Olympic Games and the Jubilee.”

The White Rose Parade, organised by Hattie and Bradford Council assistant parks manager Martin Bijl, is the third festival event of its kind hosted by Roberts Park since its multi-million-pound refurbishment Children from Saltaire’s four primary schools – Glenaire, Wycliffe, Saltaire and St Walburga’s – were taking part.

This year they were joined by a small group from Lapage Primary in Bradford, who asked if they could take part after enjoying watching last year’s event on a school trip.