Friday 23 April 2010

England's National Day

Happy St. George's Day to one and all. In looking to see what else to say about this, I learned about The Royal Society of St. George, who apparently send the Queen flowers on her actual (21 April) birthday.

Also, that there are events planned around the country for this day. Pity I'm not a jazz fan, as some band is playing in the North East on the day. I read in the local free paper that the village is having a 'pub crawl' in honour of the day. Back when I lived in the US that activity was called 'bar hopping' which sounds deceptively athletic. Pub crawl is unfortunately a more accurate description and I think we'll pass on this.

However, The Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers, down in London of course, are having a St. George's Day parade to re-claim the English flag for England. Excellent idea. The WCAB (my abbreviation) also have a very nice hall if you'd care to look at their Conference and Banqueting facilities.

Then again, there are very many Worshipful Companies even beyond the links on their website. I've not worked it all out, but I gather it is something to do with the old fashioned guilds of London, which are expanding to include such things as Information Technology (the 100th Livery Company). I always associated livery as something to with horses, but obviously my reading is inadequate. Looks like most all the Worshipful Companies have Halls for Hire. They also have an order of precedence, not to mention a hierarchy of membership status...

It's all very English, don't you know, and how appropriately so!


1 comment:

Antonia Rosina said...

Happy Birthday (of a sort) England! I am always homesick on this day. Thanks for this fascinating insight into things British and have happy days for always! R x