St. George's Day 2003

We're having another good response to our St. George's Day plea and many of you are sending letters, emails & pictures depicting how you plan to celebrate the day. From everyone at WATE.com, a very big thank you to all who participate.

In no particular order, here they are...

Two years ago a friend and I decided to take St George's Day off as a holiday and play golf. (Absolutely fed up with the publicity surrounding St Patrick's Day)

This year our numbers have swelled to over 30 and we have a Golf Society called The Dragonslayers. All players MUST wear the cross of St George about their person in some form or another and prizes are typically English. (bought from the wearethe engish web site I hasten to add) Cars must also be adorned with flags.

Our main prize for the winner is a crusader's surcoat which has been made specially and this is passed on from one tournament winner to another. This has to be worn for the rest of the day and evening. The winner has to add something to the costume each year, i.e, sword, helmet, horse etc, etc.

During the afternoon we drink copious amount of English beer and then meet our partners and wives in the local Indian. (OK I know it's a tenuous link but remember that India still bases its democracy and government on ours - remember The Raj) The ladies must also wear The Cross about their person and flags are hung up in the restaurant.

One of our traditions is that anyone can propose a toast during the meal to a prominent Englishman or Englishwoman, living or dead, and the whole company has to stand and take part.

We also play on Trafalgar Day in October.

I must make the point that we are not yobbos, hooligans, or racists - we are typically working class and middle class people whose ages range from 19 to 55, male and female, and we are celebrating our heritage, English individuality, and Englishness.

There is a groundswell out there and it's growing.

Keep up the good work.

John

Rather than pick on the French, here in Toronto, perhaps one of the most multi-cultural and ethically diverse cities in the world, we are celebrating St George's Day with a banquet fit for the saint himself.

Granite spent-grain bread
Brown Windsor soup
served with Granite Peculiar Ale
Chykonys in Bruette (Chicken in ale circa 1200 AD)
served with Granite dry-hopped bitter
English vegetables
Featured Entertainment - Mel Collie, (a la George Formby)
Voide (a 12th century forerunner to trifle)
Closing beverage - St. George's Stout

Happy St George's Day
Allan Stokell

Hello

My name is Jason Dornhoffer and I'm writing from the USA. My mother was born and raised right outside Norwich City in East Anglia.

I incorporate as much English heritage as I can in my everyday life to let others know that I'm proud of my heritage especially growing up in Boston, Massachusetts that has a strong Irish presence around it.

We will be flying the St.George's flag strong and proud.

The English are the only people to ask themselves, who are we? Do you see any other countries asking, who they are? I strongly disagree with Patrica Kelsey. Yes it is important to make London recognised for international festivals, but we must not let our own national day go by and neglet it. St Georges day should be one of the biggest festivals/celebrations on the year, over all the rest of them, afterall this is England not Ireland. Do you see the Irish, Japanese or any of the other nations around the world celebrating St Georges day in their capital cities?

No of course you dont. The fact remains, we are English... we may have come from different back grounds over the hundreds of years. But you could say the same thing for Scotland too. We have developed into an outstanding country which has achieved more than many. We have developed out own culture and heritage. Now it is time to rejoyce this on the special day of ours...and... if your not going to at least fly the flag for St George, fly it for England. Reject the Euro and say no to EU regions.

Christopher, ENGLAND FOREVER!

Greetings for St.Georges Day

Thank you very much for your communication for our special day. Thank you too, for the card illustrations. I very much regret I have left it too late to order some prints for this year. However, I have taken copies from your attachments, and I have made them up into cards. They will be sent to my friends. I must make sure to get some cards from you for next year.

Thank you for your endeavours to promote "We the English"

Good wishes ro all at Bombardiers.

Yours. R.V.HENSHALL

I am flying the flag of st. George High and proud out of my window and have been for the week leading up to the 23rd(which i feel should be a bank holiday). Going out for a beer with the lads then going to watch the mighty reds concour real madrid.

ST. GEORGE FOREVER!
Steven Taylor (English and Proud) Manchester, England

Hello,

I wanted to say thanks for the card I received for St. George's day. It was an unexpected and most pleasant suprise. I hope that everything went well in Trafalgar and all across England. I wore my COSG pin and tie clip to work (though I always do), picked up some red roses and had a few cans of
imported English ale. I love what you have done with this site and wish you all the best,

Sincerely,

William Sutton
Quesnel, BC.

Hi Guys,

Thought I’d drop a line to let you know how we celebrate in Rochester. For about four years now, my friend Bob and I have been organising a St George’s day celebration. This takes the form of a “black tie” curry. Everyone dresses for dinner, the restaurant is decorated in bunting and there are flags provided for all to wave.

As well as this, the restaurant accommodates us by playing the music that we provide. This of course includes everything you would expect – Pomp & Circumstance, God Save the Queen, Jerusalem and such like, as well as some classic tunes – Dambusters, Bridge on the River Kwai etc. But it also includes some of the quirkier things that could only be English – The Dad’s Army Theme, Bring Me Sunshine, Ernie the Fastest Milkman in the West.

We provide song sheets and find that before too long, other people in the restaurant are joining in with the singing and asking for flags to wave. This event is growing slowly. We started with about half a dozen people – we got some strange looks that night. This year we were up to twenty and expect next year to be bigger still.

It’s good to be able to celebrate our nationality. It’s something that didn’t happen when I was a child. This is something that’s growing and I’m glad to be a part of it.

Keep up the good work.

Mark.

We will celebrate the day by;

1. Reclaiming Scotland.
2. Disowning Wales
3. Making France capitulate (just for the fun of seeing how quick they do it)
4. Re establishing 'The Raj'.
5. Petitioning to make it illegal for any non Irishman to celebrate St Patricks Day.
6. Insisting that Germany recognise that we are the master race.
7. Making it compulsory to fly the St Georges Cross at every opportunity.

A full day, but worthwhile!