Parades of school children, brass bands and even a fire breathing dragon marched through the streets of two towns to mark St George’s Day.

Pupils from 24 schools across Dartford and Gravesham took part in the spectacle equipped with specially made shields and signs crafted during lessons.

St George’s Day is usually celebrated on April 23 every year and is held to honour the patron saint of England who, as legend has it, became renowned for slaying a dragon and saving a princess.

This morning’s parade kicked off at St George’s Church, a Grade II-listed Anglican church dedicated to Saint George in Gravesend, shortly after 9.45am.

From there the parade marched through the streets of the riverside town as crowds gathered to watch the dazzling display.

It then packed up and reappeared at Dartford for a similar parade from 12.30pm which saw it start at the town civic centre, again with local school children, before finishing at Central Park.

Gurvinder Sandher, artistic director of Gravesend arts organisation Cohesion Plus which organised the events, said: “St George’s Day is today but we start the work months and months in advance.

“So the 24 local schools that have been taken place, they have been working over the last six or seven weeks to create shields, special St George’s Day flags, and so today is the culmination of their work.

“We’re all about making special memories for the young children taking part.”

Mr Sandher said in recent weeks both towns have celebrated Eid with the Muslim community, Vaisakhi with the Sikh community, and then Easter for the Christian community.

But, for him personally, the key thing about St George’s Day is everyone coming together.

“I think events like St George’s Day here in north Kent kind of underpin the strong community relations that we have here,” he added.

“And it underpins the key role that arts and culture play in bringing communities together as well.

“We’re really proud of what we have done in Gravesend and Dartford.”

And the arts director believes other parts of the country can “learn from what we’re doing here in Kent”.

“The reason we started organising events here was because when I was young growing up here in north Kent, the union flag and the flag of St George was kind of owned by the far-right,” he added.

“For me this is about reclaiming the flag for the majority, rather than the minority and saying we’re going to fly the flag, we’re going to fly it with pride and also use it to celebrate what it means to be English today, in 2025.”

Yesterday (April 22), Prime Minister Keir Starmer shared his worries about the far-right claiming ownership of the St George’s Cross at a Downing Street reception held to mark the day of England’s patron saint.

At last night’s gathering, Sir Keir praised England for its diversity, pointing to the difference between his “working class” background and his predecessor Rishi Sunak, “an English Hindu”, who had both been able to become prime minister.

“That for me is something I think we should always be proud of and never take for granted,” Sir Keir said.

But the Prime Minister added: “Because, while this is a day for celebration, we cannot be under any illusions that there is a never-ending fight for our flag and what it represents.

“I’ll put it this way, when I was standing in the old Wembley in 1996 – not many people sat down that day, it felt like that whole tournament embodied the best of our country.

“Yet now – there are people trying to sow division in our communities, people taking the red and white of our flag, like the bunting downstairs, with them, as they throw bricks at businesses.”

Among the celebrities who joined Sir Keir at the No 10 reception were outgoing Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker, and Bromley comedian Rob Beckett.

However, anyone celebrating St George’s Day this week is actually doing so five days too early.

That’s because while the patron saint is usually celebrated on April 23 every year, the Church of England has changed the date this year (April 28) because no saint’s day can take place in the week before or after Easter.