I’m sure something’s happening today……is it my birthday? Pancake Day? Valentine’s Day! Oh I know, it’s St George’s Day – and I’ve only realised as I went online and noticed Google has commemorated it with a Google Doodle, an animation depicting George on horseback ready to fight the dragon!
Our poor patron saint doesn’t seem to get much of a look in these days as apparently two thirds of Britons have no idea that our saint’s day is celebrated on 23 April each year.
For those of you who don’t know, St George is the patron saint of England and it is believed that he slayed a man-eating dragon to save a princess.
However, unlike our friends in Scotland or Ireland who are fiercely proud of their own saints days and celebrate them with a national holiday and Guinness (the Irish) or haggis and neaps (the Scots), us English, don’t really do much at all to mark the occasion. Indeed, David Cameron has said that St George’s day has been overlooked for too long and our country needs to celebrate what it is to be English.
However, although nationwide, our saint’s day is traditionally a low key affair, there are St George’s Day parades planned in several English cities including one locally to us in Manchester.
As B2B PR specialists, we think that the Government is wasting a fantastic PR opportunity to promote all that is great and good about our country. A bank holiday would certainly help his cause, so if Mr Cameron is serious in his desire for our patron saint’s day to be taken more seriously, then perhaps giving everyone the day off would be a good place to start giving us the time to enjoy all things English! Fish and chips anyone?
