Shake off your apathy and celebrate St George’s Day
A campaign to encourage the English to celebrate their patron saint by organising events promoting local food has an unlikely champion in Douglas Chalmers, CLA Director North.
Unlikely, because different to most campaigners, Mr Chalmers is Scottish, and has even resorted to filming a video on a BBC Website to try and encourage the English to follow their northern neighbours in showing a little patriotic pride. The video will be available at www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria/videonation the weekend before St George's Day, 23 April.
Mr Chalmers said: "We Scots, like the Irish and the Welsh, are proud of ourselves and our nations. St. Andrew's Day is now a public holiday, and this haggis-eating, kilt-swinging day in November sets us up nicely for Hogmanay and then Burns Night in January.
"In contrast, I have always been disappointed to find that the English cannot, or will not express themselves in this way. Schools and Councils in particular seem reluctant to simply be English. And many Individuals want to celebrate their Englishness, but don't know how to."
"The apologists say "Overt signs of Englishness may cause offence". What is it in the English mentality that accepts the Cross of St. Andrews, the Irish Tricolour and the Welsh Dragon as symbols of patriotic pride, but worries that we associate the Cross of St. George with nationalistic nastiness?
"Come on England – and I never thought I'd say that – but what are you playing at? I have to applaud and encourage your intention to be a multi-cultural, all-inclusive society, but surely you have to include yourselves. Reclaim your Saint, and his flag, and his day.
"You have much to celebrate in your own kingdom. This really is a "green and pleasant land". It, and the people who manage it, produce food that is second to none, however you might want to measure it. After all, in many countries St. George is the patron Saint of farms and farmworkers
"Celebrate the food that is produced around you, and celebrate the people who produce it. This country, your country, was founded on strong, self-sufficient communities, and by returning to this ethos we have a chance of making our countryside vibrant and successful again.
"What better way, than to use your national day, your patron Saint's day, to have your celebration. Use it as a focus for the people and the produce that feed the nation.
"The CLA will be doing its best to Celebrate St George's Day. What will you be doing?"
