THE ‘white rose’ sailors paid the first visit to the city which gives their ship her name in three years.

And the men and women of HMS York won’t be back in Yorkshire’s county town for some time as the destroyer prepares for a year out of action while she undergoes a major refit.

The visit to York (the ship herself actually berthed in Hull) coincided with Yorkshire Day (August 1 for those who aren’t from the land of the eponymous pudding), a date Yorkshire folk take deadly seriously.

So seriously, in fact, that there was a parade through the streets of Hull by York’s crew, a march which ended at the city’s Holy Trinity Church where there was a service of commemoration. The Band of HM Royal Marines provided musical accompaniment on this special day with a performance in Victoria Square.

Fifty members of the ship’s company also headed to York for a day’s toil in a nature reserve.

The meadows of Clifton Backies have only been a council-owned reserve for a couple of years after suffering decades of neglect.

“It’s the usual story of not enough money and one member of staff trying to do all the work, assisted by groups of school children and OAPs wanting to do some volunteering,” said Lt Cdr Karen Allsford, York’s Logistics Officer.

The fifty-strong RN work party got to grips with overgrown hedges and helped to improve some of the fencing around the site.

Also in York, seven saddle-sore sailors were waiting to re-join their shipmates.

It took the team, led by clubz LPT Chris Peden, four days to cycle from Spiller’s Wharf in Newcastle (the destroyer’s previous port of call) to the heart of York, all in aid of Applefields special needs school.

Before the visits to Hull and York, the ship had been on duty in the North Sea where all manner of aerial threats were thrown at the air defence destroyer.