Er, Joe - if Scrump had checked this thread he/she would have seen that IanC had already posted that identical quotation from Ammon Wrigley over a year ago (13 October 2005). The article is superbly entertaining, but since it was first published in 1937 it isn't much help with establishing any facts about this song except to note that the song titled by Perkin as "Pratty Flowers" was by then (ie 1937) already widely known as The Holmfirth Anthem.

By the way Ammon Wrigley was a wonderful dialect writer, poet, and songwriter and his Brown Hare of Whitebrook is really good song indeed. He deserves more attention than he has had so far.