Stonecross St. George’s Day West Bromwich 24th April

More than the expected 20,000 people from across the Black Country flocked to West Bromwich to take part in the celebrations to honour England’s patron saint, and for almost two hours the streets around the town became one mass of Red and White as English patriots marched in a parade that stretched almost a third of the route from Westminster Road to Dartmouth Park. Getting people into the mood at the start of the parade was organiser Mark and blind Dave Heeley helped by Baggie Bird and a look alike former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who stood in for the Queen this year because she was busy organising her grandson’s wedding. Leading the parade was the ever loyal Northfield Caledonia band supported in the march by the bands of the England’s Supporters and Walsall Coronets who must be congratulated for their stirling endurance and performances. The number of attractions in Dartmouth Park must have surprised everyone who knew of the problems being met by the organisers even as late as two weeks before the event, and I hope that people show their appreciation by offering their assistance or donating to next years event. The parade ended at the War Memorial in the park in a salute to past patriots before people dispersed to the attractions which included this year, Bouncy Castles, Morris Dancers, a Viking settlement, Scooter display, Pat Collins Fun Fair, besides a variety of Craft stalls and food vans not forgetting our own campaign stand.
Our stand had to be brought all the way up from Salisbury after it had taken pride of place in the local market there on Saturday and thanks have to go to Veronica and John Newman who had very little sleep in order to bring it. The stand was manned by Veronica, John, and the West Midland team of John Stanhope, Julian Asher and Nigel Bromage with appearances from our Chairman Eddie Bone and members Fred Bishop and Tony Trahearn. I am glad to say that at most times throughout the day people were two and three deep and scrambling to put their names down on our supporters lists, so many were they that at one point we had to put out 6 separate sheets to accommodate the queue. All in all in was grand day for a grand occasion and everyone left happy.

Stonecross St.George's Day Parade West Bromwich

The Campaign for an English Parliament is attending the parade again this year and you are invited to come along and meet your local Representatives at the CEP Stand in the park. The one and half mile walk from Stonecross to the park is a lot of fun for everybody so we look forward to seeing you dressed up in your Red and White and waving your flags in celebrating your Englishness, and if the Sun shines so much the better.
Since the council withdrew their funding of the parade some three years ago the organisers are constantly having to overcome obstacles not before experienced,the least not being the necessary requirement of raising thousands of pounds every year to pay for road closers and policing.It is thanks to their efforts throughout the year and their ability to act quickly to changing circumstances that this event which attracts 15,000 to 20,000 people is again able to take place.
If you or any of your family or friends come and join the parade I am asking you to consider making a £1 donation towards the cost, and this can done on their web site
www.stonecrossstgeorge.org or in a £1 coin on the day.
The parade this year takes place on Easter Sunday 24th March and if you can help on the day please ring me 01902630110 ASAP.

The British don't want to give England a public holiday on St. George's Day because it could create a feeling in England of nationhood,which goes against British policy of devolution which is designed to prevent England gaining that political and constitutional recognition, so your celebration of St. George is also your protest against that British injustice.

We must not forget that it is the British that are denying England its political recognition, the British MPs we have sent to parliament to represent England, it is these who are to blame. Until we have our own English MPs not British MPs representing England nothing is going to change.

Have the British made one mistake to many by using April 1st to make fools of the English

You can’t fool all of the people all of the time the saying goes, so have the people of England at last realised on April 1st of all days that the British joker is no fool to be laughed at, and are they at last realising that the joke is on them, not only on April 1st 2011 but on every day since devolution 1998 denied them and their country their political and constitutional existence. Since April 1st England’s Health Service has become the only one in the United Kingdom that will not be giving out free prescriptions, and to compound the joke it is England that is providing the money for the other nations to get theirs free. How can the United Kingdom exist when certain parts have better benefits than the English and the English rights to those benefits are being vetoed by Scottish, Welsh and Irish MPs. The British don’t seem to realise that the future of the United Kingdom is at stake, and nor do they realise that an essential feature of the Union must be equality, or is it ingrained in the British psyche that they think that an English life in all its aspects isn’t worth the same as a Scottish, Welsh or Irish one. The United Kingdom no longer has one NHS, since devolution 1998 the UK now has four health services three of which, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are truly national and are under the control of government ministers and fully funded, while England, the only country without its own parliament is being forced to accept a privatised British Regional Health Service in which patient care depends more on where you live than the severity of the complaint, and has resulted in what is termed a post code lottery. The irony of the situation is that the British MPs who forced this privitisation on England were elected from the nations whose counties had been given their own parliament and they new full well that it would not apply to their own health services. Next time you are ill and take your prescription to the pharmacy to pay £7-40 per item put on the fools cap and stand in the corner, because not only are you paying for something the other nations get free but you will probably be paying for second class generic equivalents too.