Plan your own St George's Day event now

Start your own – our join ours, says CLA

The CLA is challenging people to start thinking about how they will celebrate St George's Day – and is happy to invite them to their own celebrations of England's National Day on 23rd April.

Having organised St George's Day events for a number of years, the CLA now believes the main reason St. George's Day has not been celebrated more widely is simply that people don't know how to, and that the key should be the association with agriculture – St George is revered in many countries as the patron saint of agricultural workers.

Douglas Chalmers, Director CLA North says:

"One of the great pleasures of living in England today is enjoying the wide range of fresh local produce, and we all know that the opportunities to source and savour this are increasing all the time. We say that St George's Day is the ideal occasion to celebrate the culinary riches grown and reared round about us in our own countryside.

"Everyone associates St Patrick's Day with parades, St David's Day with the wearing of daffodils and St Andrew's Day with ceilidhs, but how to celebrate St George's Day just draws blank looks. The CLA's Great English Breakfast is now in its seventh year and simply involves getting people together to celebrate with good English food and good company in a relaxed but suitably patriotic setting.

"Everyone should think about how they are going to celebrate England's National Day, and I believe that it is the perfect opportunity to get some friends together and enjoy our local food – whether it be breakfast, lunch or dinner. There is no need to dress up or turn up on a white charger – it's the food and the company that are important - although a few words from Shakespeare might be appropriate as 23 April is also the Bard's birthday.

If you don't have the time to organise your own event this year, we would be delighted to see you at one of ours. Our breakfasts are open to all, and I can promise an enjoyable, relaxed occasion with a full English breakfast made using local produce.

The breakfasts this year are taking place at:

• Oaklands Hotel, Cuddington, Northwich, Cheshire (£15)

• Garstang Country Hotel, Garstang, Lancashire (£15)

• Lindeth Fell, Bowness, Cumbria (£15)

• Longtown Auction Mart, Cumbria (£10)

All start at 8.45am.

For further details or to reserve a place contact the CLA north Regional Office on 015395 67597 or visit the CLA North West regional events page on www.cla.org.uk to download a booking form.