Borough Councillors back plans to reintroduce a local St George’s Day parade

Erewash Borough Council headquarters in Long Eaton. Photo by Eddie Bisknell.

By Eddie Bisknell – Local Democracy Reporting Service

Councillors have backed plans to reintroduce a St George’s Day parade in one part of Derbyshire.

At an Erewash Borough Council meeting this month, councilors gave cross-party support to the reintroduction of a St George’s Day parade and associated events around the borough.

The backing comes around 20 years after the last St George’s Day Parade took place in Ilkeston, before it was cancelled due to the cost of a significant police presence required to avoid potential criminality.

Debate over the issue was punctuated by regular chanting of “Eng-er-land” from campaigners who had gathered outside Ilkeston Town Hall.

Reform UK Councillor Dan Price, who brought the motion, had also called for the creation of a bank holiday for St George’s Day, but this was not supported and was replaced with a commitment to fly the English flag outside the authority’s town halls on April 23rd.

In his speech, Cllr Price, who spoke at length about the history of St George and the national flag, said that as a devout Catholic and patriot the borough and country could use “something to look forward to after the long winter months”, saying the Labour Government was “compassionless”.

Fellow Reform UK Cllr Paul Maginnis said that as a Protestant growing up in Belfast he had enjoyed seeing the community painted and decorated in red, white and blue for St George’s Day.

He said it gave people the opportunity to show that they were “proud of their country” and had a “shared identity”.

Cllr Curtis Howard, said he had proudly described himself as “English only” in the 2021 Census, which he said had been baked into him after living in Wales and witnessing their national patriotism.

He said while he supported the creation of a bank holiday for St George’s Day, this was not a matter for the council but for the Government.

Cllr Howard said the authority would be proud to support “any community events” which were good for the local economy.

Cllr Joel Bryan, formerly a school chaplain, told the meeting that as a Catholic he was keen for people to “celebrate more saints”.

He said: “We need more events in Erewash. They support our high streets, support our town centres, bring pride in our town and attract people to come into our towns and support our local economy.

“I’d have a St George’s Day parade, a Pride parade and many more events.”

Cllr Ann Mills, Green Party, said the borough ought to invite people from other countries, who also have St George as their patron saint, to come to Erewash for its events.

She said April 23rd was also William Shakespeare’s birthday, so could feature an overlap in honouring the former playwright and poet.

St George is the patron saint of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, England, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine.

Cllr Wayne Major, Conservative opposition leader, said he was “extraordinarily proud of this country” but rejected the idea it was “broken”.