Families celebrate St George's Day at Dudley Zoo

There were a limited number of tickets available for the festival and all were snapped up by residents and visitors who could not wait to fly the flag on Sunday afternoon and pay homage to the martyr who slayed a troublesome dragon.

Organisers at the grounds joined forces with Dudley Council to host the themed festival in the 11th century castle courtyard featuring a variety of family entertainment and activities.

Attractions included medieval games re-enactment including archery, children’s entertainers included Flip & Dippy, face painting, crafts, 'Smoked the Dragon', animal talks and ghost walks along with refreshments, tombola, art & craft, and also history talks.

Dudley Zoo spokesperson Rachel Hickman said: “It's fantastic to be hosting the event once again and welcoming just under 4,000 visitors on site. The sun is shining, and the 11th century castle courtyard is bursting with excited chatter and activities, including actors, children's entertainers and even a dragon."

The Mayor of Dudley, Councillor Anne Millward was on hand to officially open the event after urging families to snap up tickets early as only a limited number were made available this year.

Councillor Millward said: "It has been a beautiful event in a beautiful setting. It has gone very well indeed and has been a lovely afternoon. It was nice to see so many people and lots of families.

"All the children were taking part in the circus skills activities. The zoo had some of the small animals out to show the children. I got to hold a huge Madagascar cockroach, I also had a go on the stilts and just about managed not to fall off it and I said a few words to welcome everyone to the event.

"There was a dragon although I think the story of St George slaying the dragon was an analogy of good triumphing over evil. I think it' important to celebrate him became we have St Patrick's Day for Ireland and St Andrew's Day for Scotland. St George has taken a bad rap over the years because of political certain factions which we do not agree with.

"Although some say he was a Turkish Roman soldier, he was a Christian who was martyred for his faith so it is important to to remember our history and there is nowhere better in this area to do it than in the Dudley Castle grounds which was destroyed by Cromwell."

She added that it was pleasing to be able to hold the family event this year in partnership with the zoo following a two-year break due to the coronavirus pandemic. She said the previous St George’s Day celebrations held at the zoo were also great success and the council hoped to repeat it next year.

Tickets were offered at reduced rates to encourage families to make the most of a good day out.

"We're hoping this event will be held again at the zoo in future. We used to have many St George's Day parades all over the borough, but due to Covid this hasn't been able to happen in the same way.

"The reduced price tickets has worked well and has got people out in the spring sunshine to have a good time. It's also good for the zoo which I understand is seeing it's visitor numbers increase to pre-pandemic levels which is great for the attraction and for Dudley's visitor programme," she added.