WHEN the citizens of the County Palatine of Lancaster were told on November 27, 1295 to send their first elected representative to Parliament, I doubt that they ever imagined eight centuries later Parliament would be marking this “Lancashire Day” with an exhibition of some of the county’s best food and drink products (and county-made shoes).

But that’s what we did on Tuesday. A great success it was too.

The Royal Proclamation summoning the county’s MPs was addressed to the people of the various “Hundreds” in the county. Hundreds were an old Saxon sub-division of a county, and originally spanned an area capable of sustaining 100 families – hence the name.

One of those Hundreds was the Blackburn one – which covered virtually the whole of East Lancashire. So it was fitting that the most noticeable exhibitor on Tuesday was one of Blackburn’s oldest, and most iconic firms – Thwaites Brewery.

Two of their magnificent shire horses, and dray, were opposite the Houses of Parliament, and attracted great attention from the public as well as MPs.

Inside the House, the room was packed. What was especially pleasing was the number of MPs from constituencies far away from Lancashire who turned up and who savoured just a few of its specialities – including biscuits, fudge, crisps, cheese, more beer (from Lancaster Brewery, as well as Thwaites) – and those shoes – from “Hotter Comfort” shoes , based in Skelmersdale, and now producing around 1½ million pairs of British-made shoes a year.

There were stands advertising the county’s tourist attractions, too.

I hope the firms involved thought that the event was worth their time and trouble.

There’s a wider issue here. These firms were small or medium sized, typically run by families, and in every case by people committed to their work and their products.

Of course, we need large established manufacturers, like BAE Systems, and Rolls-Royce. But every large firm started small – and our county’s prosperity depends even more than it ever did on individuals having a bright idea, and turning it into a business.

That was the real point of Tuesday’s celebration.