THE IRISH celebrate St Patrick's Day with fervour, the Welsh don daffodils for St David, Scots roll out the haggis for St Andrew but what do the English do for St George?

Very little - or so it seems.

Even the history books are not certain about the identity of our patron saint, stating only that he was believed to have been a Christian martyr born in the third century somewhere in the Middle East.

But the fame of St George may be growing. Shops are beginning to stock St George's Day cards to be sent on April 23 and, though no one seems to know exactly who he was, many people are aware of the legend which surrounds him. It tells of a dragon which was terrorising the country. Every day the people gave it two sheep to keep it satisfied. But the number of sheep ran low and a human being had to be offered instead.

The first victim was to be the King's own daughter. She went to her fate dressed as a bride. But George attacked the dragon, pierced its side with his lance and led it away. Then he told people that if they became Christian he would rid them of this monster. Fifteen thousand men agreed to be baptised and George killed the dragon.

It was because St George seemed like the perfect Christian knight that he became popular in the medieval period when chivalry and good heroic Christian deeds were all-important. England took him as the country's patron, along with Venice, Catalonia, Genoa, Portugal and later - the Scouting movement.

Yesterday, uniformed organisations held parades all round East Lancashire and marched to church past mayors and mayoresses to celebrate their patron's day.

And at Windsor Castle every year there is a parade where the members who have recently received their Queen's Scout Award - the highest achievement in Scouting - are presented with certificates.

John Cole, assistant executive commissioner for UK Scouts, said: "St George is the patron saint of scouting because he is associated with good deeds. "All scouts renew their promise at this time of year and this rededication is a major part of the St George's Day service."

MARIAN FOSTER, manageress at Clinton Cards, Blackburn, said the shop was displaying St George's Day cards for the first time this year and they were selling well.

"We started with 36 and we have 14 left," she said. "I think people are pleased to see we are actually doing something about St George, like we do with St Patrick. We're finding it is mainly our older customers who are buying them."

And when we asked people in Blackburn town centre, most agreed that more could be done.

BRENDA LONGTON, from Whalley said: "The Irish have their shamrocks and dances and why shouldn't we celebrate?"

And DOREEN TAYLOR, of Mellor Brook, said: "I don't think we do enough to celebrate George and the dragon. We should have St George's Day instead of May Day."

GEMMA HEATH, 22, from Great Harwood, said: "I think we could make people more aware of it. They have a flag on St Bartholomew's Church, in Great Harwood, otherwise I wouldn't know when it was. We weren't told at school.

"I don't think people would buy cards for St George's Day unless more was done for it. It just seems another reason for selling cards."

Her father STEWART said he used to be in the Scouts and had taken part in the parades.

FLORENCE CHARNLEY, 51, comes from Scotland but lives in Blackburn. She said she used to take part in St Andrew's Day functions but didn't believe sending St George's Day cards would become popular.

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