20,000 join St George parade

Thousands of people turned West Bromwich into a sea of red and white as Britain's biggest St George's Day parade took place.

Yesterday's event was hailed a resounding success after nearly 20,000 people turned up from all over the country.

Police said the 1.7 mile walk went ahead without a hitch. The walk is the biggest of its kind in the country and attracted nearly double the amount of people that had turned out to the Sandwell Council-run St George's Day fun day in Dartmouth Park on Saturday.

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The sense of victory created an atmosphere as joyous as if their home football team had just won the FA cup.

Against the odds, the organisers of the annual St George's Day parade had planned the event to a T and between 15,000 and 20,000 people were gathered in West Bromwich to celebrate their shared heritage.

Losing the funding from Sandwell Council that they needed to secure the insurance and road marshals to make the event legal was almost a nail in the coffin of the annual event.

And the parade is unlikely to receive local authority backing next year after controversial politician Nick Griffin, leader of the far right British National Party (BNP) joined the march despite pleas for people to leave politics at home.

In spite of his appearance, yesterday's parade was a triumph for the Stone Cross St George Association - made up of ordinary local people - after the £15,000 was raised thanks to private donations, including a £10,000 grant from businessman Chris Kelly.

Celebrate

The patriots had won - it was as if St George had slayed the dragon all over again - and the sun had come out to help them celebrate.

Children with their faces painted white and red, grown men wearing the flag of St George like Superman's cape and veterans of the Second World War well into their 80s standing as tall and proud as they did when then were 20. This was their day.

They may be too young to know it, but Calum Hadley, aged four, and sister Elle, six, from West Bromwich have been attending parades their whole lives.

Their mother Hayley Pritchard, aged 26, of Beaconsfield Road, West Bromwich, said: "They have been coming every year, even when I was pregnant with them.

"It's a fantastic day for the children. They love dressing up and getting their faces painted."

Sisters Kelly-Anne and Emma Steventon, aged 18 and 21, and their friend Hope Breakwell, aged 18, were dressed in patriotic red and white for the occasion.

Hope, a former Wodensborough High School pupil, of Charter Road, Tipton, said: "We wanted to get out and show some patriotism."

Wearing his St George-themed sunglasses was Pete Hill, of Stour Street in Greets Green.

The 53-year-old father of two said: "I'm so glad that this event got the OK to go ahead. If it hadn't, people would have marched anyway. We have had this event for years and no-one wanted to let it go."

Wednesbury councillor Bill Archer, known as the singing mayor during his year in office in 2006, received applause for singing Land of Hope And Glory while West Bromwich poet Sean Gould reminded us all why we love England with its steak and kidney pie, rainy weather, gardens, dogs and football.

Celebrities such as marathon runner Blind Dave Heeley and West Bromwich Albion legend Super Bob Taylor praised the assembled people for turning out.

There were jeers for Sandwell Council as Trevor Collins, of the Stone Cross St George Association, addressed the crowd in Westminster Road to explain that there would be nothing more than a funfair in Darmouth Park to greet them at the end.

Sandwell Council had moved its own static event, complete with Keith Chegwin, to the day before and while Councillor Derek Rowley had said the local authority did not want to stop anyone attending the parade, the feeling among the crowd was that this was something the politicians in charge did not want to be associated with.

Their decision came after video footage emerged showing right wing extremists the British Ulster Alliance Flute Band marching last year.

Crowd

Mr Collins and his brother Geoff, along with their fellow committee members, made repeated pleas for people to leave the politics at home. And it seemed to have worked. There was not a single rosette in sight.

But as the march set off and headed along Walsall Road, rumours began to circulate through the crowd. Nick Griffin, the leader of the BNP, was there.

Mr Griffin said he was there "non-politically" but with almost the same breath he added: "When you consider the enormous pressure the organisers were put under by the Labour party, the number of people here shows that they will not be bullied."

The BNP aside, however, there can be no doubt that yesterday's parade showed that English pride is not about politics.

It is about a nation of people who want to remember the values that their parents taught them and about a saint who stood up for his beliefs and helped others in need, regardless of where they were from.

By Daniel Wainwright