A weekend of celebrations to mark St George's Day in Leicester kicks off today - one of the biggest celebrations of England's patron saint Leicester has seen, with live music, dance and poetry performances planned on a stage in Orton Square. There are also city tours, food and drink plus family activities.
The fun begins at 1100 today, when Leicester Market hosts a battle between St George and the dragon, with a second performance at noon. In the evening, there's a festival of English beers at the Criterion pub, in Millstone Lane, and, at 7.30pm, a St George's Day service at St Mary de Castro Church.
The Lord Mayor of Leicester, Councillor Roger Blackmore, said: "It's one of Leicester's great strengths that we celebrate all kinds of festivals in all kinds of communities. I think it's right and appropriate that St George is prominent among them".
Couldn't agree more with the words of the Lord Mayor. Just a few weeks ago, while being interviewed live at the crack of dawn on BBC World Service, I was asked to respond to a recorded insert of three young white women recorded at a bingo session, saying that there's nothing for the white community in Leicester, that they're forgotten and neglected in favour of more recent arrivals and incomers. A weekend such as this shows up such a comment as being quite untrue.
As well as the Cultural Quarter family events and entertainment throughout Saturday, Jewry Wall Museum will have activities from 11am to 4pm.
On Sunday, at 2.55pm, more than 1,000 Cubs and Scouts will parade through the city centre to Leicester Cathedral. On the same day, a festival of arts and crafts takes place at Leicester Market.
Byron Chatburn, head of Leicestershire Scouts, said: "It's fantastic that we have 1,000 young people out and about over the St George's Day weekend celebrating what it means to them to be a Scout. "It's very important at this time of year to reflect on the past twelve months and look forward to the next twelve."
I hope I'm not being particularly perverse here, but the photo of St George slaying the dragon at the top of this post is not from Leicester. It's a statue that stands outside the Italian Chapel on the little island of Lamb Holm in the Okrney Islands, a spot I've visited twice in the past 25 years. As you might imagine, faithful reader, I take a special interest in iconic Georges and this is my favourite representation of St George and his scaly nemesis.
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