Marc Allinson: Flying the flag for St George

Related tags St george Saint patrick's day

From a very young age until I left home to go to university, I was a member of the Scout movement. One of the highlights of the year for my parents,...

From a very young age until I left home to go to university, I was a member of the Scout movement.

One of the highlights of the year for my parents, and naturally at the same time an incredible bore for me, was the St George's day parade. Hundreds of people from 6 years old upwards, parading, showing pride in their country, marching through town so that everybody could see.

Now that I am older and have moved into the pub trade, I enjoy watching the parades and it fills me with pride that some people are still willing to continue the traditions.

However at the same time it makes me so sad that these parades, with only a few exceptions, are about the extent of the public celebrations, when people will make such an effort to celebrate the patron saint of a different nation.

St Patricks' day seems to make everyone think that they have a connection to the emerald isle, whether it be a holiday long ago, or a distant uncle's best friend once lived there, they all become determined to enjoy "the craic".

Credit for these celebrations can be primarily credited to some ingenious marketing by Guinness, who have drummed it into people's psyche that on St Patrick's day we must drink the black stuff.

Yet when it comes to St George's day, nobody seems bothered.

What it shows that people will make the effort to celebrate the public holidays of other countries, but our own is just too "uncool" or they worry that the PC brigade will accuse them of being offensive if non-English people see the celebrations and realise they are in England.

Wouldn't it be great if we could have a concerted effort, not only through the pub trade, but the whole country to make St George's day into a true national day of celebration. Instead of the daft hats, we could have foam swords and shields with manufacturer's logos on them, little dragon hats or any number of things. Let's show pride in who we are.

Not to mention that it would be a profitable day for the pubs...

---