Latest news with #StPiran'sDay
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
St Piran's Day celebrated across Cornwall
Celebrations have been held across Cornwall to mark St Piran's Day. The event is marked annually on 5 March and celebrates the life and legacy of the patron saint of tin miners. Processions and performances have been taking place including a St Piran's Day Parade in Truro culminating in speeches and songs outside Truro Cathedral. There have also been other events in places including Redruth, Penzance and Perranporth. Mayor of Truro Carol Swain said it was "an honour" to stage the parade in Truro "seeing it traverse through our great little city on its way to the cathedral steps". A brass band led dozens of people including flag bearers, groups of school children and a pair of giant pasties through the streets which were lined with spectators. President of Truro Old Cornwall Society, Bert Biscoe, said: "We very much welcome the enthusiasm shown by our schools for St Piran and the Truro parade. "Handing on such valued and resonant traditions and celebrations is vitally important for community life and everybody's identity." In Redruth a parade was followed by musical performances, free activities, and a Red Squirrel Trail running throughout the town. Hundreds of schoolchildren also joined a parade and danced through the streets of Penzance to mark the occasion. Mayor of Penzance, Stephen Reynolds said: "We've come here today to celebrate St Piran, but also, more importantly, to celebrate who we are, where we come from, where we are going, and this amazing place, Cornwall, Kernow, that we all call home." The annual St Piran procession took place on Sunday at Penhale Dunes near Perranporth. The event takes place on the Sunday closest to 5 March when a procession across the dunes ends at St Piran's Oratory and lost church, the original site of where St Piran worshiped. The issue of minority status for Cornwall was also raised during Prime Minister's Questions in Westminster on St Piran's Day. MP for Camborne and Redruth, Perran Moon, called on the prime minister to reaffirm the Government's commitment to the status. Keir Starmer replied: "Let me wish him, his constituents and everyone in Cornwall a very happy St Piran's Day. "We do recognise Cornish national minority status, not just the proud language, the history and the culture of Cornwall, but its bright future, and I know that he and Cornish colleagues will continue to be powerful voices for Cornwall." Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@ Who was St Piran and why is he celebrated? St Piran's Day celebrated across Cornwall Public holiday plea for Cornwall
The Independent
05-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Starmer reaffirms Cornwall's national minority status on St Piran's Day
Sir Keir Starmer has said the Government is committed to national minority status for Cornwall during a St Piran's Day Prime Minister's Questions. St Piran's Day, or the Feast of Saint Piran, is the national day of Cornwall, held on 5 March every year. A number of MPs wore daffodil pins, in reference to the flowers traditionally laid at St Piran's cross, located among the sand dunes of Penhale Sands, between Perranporth and Newquay. During PMQs, Labour MP for Camborne and Redruth, Perran Moon, called on Sir Keir to reaffirm the Government's commitment to national minority status for Cornwall. The Cornish people were first recognised as a national minority group in 2014. It means they are classified under the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the same as the UK's other Celtic people – the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish. Mr Moon told MPs: 'Happy St Piran's Day to the hundreds of thousands of people in Cornwall and around the world who are today celebrating St Piran's Day. 'Will the Prime Minister confirm our Government's commitment to national minority status for Cornwall and will he join me in wishing Cornish folk the world over a very happy St Piran's Day?' Sir Keir Starmer replied: 'Let me wish him, his constituents and everyone in Cornwall a very happy St Piran's Day. 'We do recognise Cornish national minority status, not just the proud language, the history and the culture of Cornwall, but its bright future, and I know that he and Cornish colleagues will continue to be powerful voices for Cornwall.' Neither St Piran's Day nor St David's Day on March 1 are bank holidays. St George's Day, celebrated in England on April 23, is also not a bank holiday. But people in Northern Ireland and Scotland receive bank holidays to mark patron saints' feast days – St Patrick's Day on March 17 and St Andrew's Day on November 30.
The Independent
28-02-2025
- Business
- The Independent
People need ‘time to enjoy' saints' days, says Plaid Cymru's Westminster leader
People need 'the time to enjoy' St David's Day in Wales and St Piran's Day in Cornwall, Plaid Cymru's Westminster leader has said amid calls for bank holidays. In a debate to mark St David's Day, which takes place on Saturday, Liz Saville-Roberts told the Commons that not having a bank holiday for the event 'doesn't stop us from coming together to celebrate' Wales. But she said people throughout the UK should celebrate national saints 'with vigour and enthusiasm'. Neither St David's Day on March 1 nor St Piran's Day on March 5 are bank holidays. St George's Day, celebrated in England on April 23, is also not a bank holiday. But people in Northern Ireland and Scotland receive bank holidays to mark patron saints' feast days – St Patrick's Day on March 17 and St Andrew's Day on November 30. Ms Saville Roberts, who wore a daffodil pinned to her top, said: 'It's a time of course to take pride in our culture, our communities, our language, each a rugged testament to our resilience as a nation. 'We are a nation of creativity and innovation. 'We all here know that Wales has the talent, the resources, the potential to be more than brilliant. 'But it's time to be more ambitious, it's time to up our game. 'While we may not yet have a St David's Day bank holiday, that doesn't stop us from coming together to celebrate what makes our country so special.' Ben Maguire, the Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall, intervened in her speech and asked: 'Would (Ms Saville Roberts) support my calls to make St Piran's Day – the national day of Cornwall – a bank holiday which is taking place on March 5?' Ms Saville Roberts, who is the MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd in North Wales, replied: 'Yes, we should be celebrating our regional saints and our national saints with vigour and enthusiasm, and make sure that people get every opportunity and the time to enjoy them.' She also called on MPs to 'acknowledge the challenges we face' and said the National Theatre Wales company had 'shut up shop', after its closure last December. 'Our arts and culture, so integral to our national identity, they are at present hanging in the balance,' Ms Saville Roberts said, adding that the NHS west of the border had been 'chronically mismanaged'. David Chadwick, the Liberal Democrats' Wales spokesman and the MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe, later endorsed calls for a bank holiday. He told MPs: 'Let us move boldly forward, together advocating for St David's Day to be recognised as a national holiday.' Labour MP for Cardiff West Alex Barros-Curtis had said the budget for Wales shows 'the power of partnership between two governments working together in the interests of the Welsh people'. He said: 'So why, therefore, Plaid Cymru will be joining the Conservatives to vote against this investment at the budget next week is beyond me.' Ms Saville Roberts intervened to say: 'He knows as well as I, in real terms, that this is not an increase, and also it is front-loaded for the Welsh budget. 'We know there is grief coming down the track with budgets in future, so it's hardly appropriate to be singing the praises of this budget, knowing what's on its way.' Mr Barros-Curtis replied: 'That is still inexcusable to me why Plaid Cymru would vote against an extra £1.5 billion in the budget next week and join the Tories in doing so, it seems an unfathomable reason for that.' In her contribution, Llinos Medi, Plaid Cymru MP for Ynys Mon, said: 'For decades, we have failed to address the fundamental problems that face Wales. 'We have never had an ambitious strategic economic plan. The case for a new radical and made-in-Wales approach to economic development is clear for all to see.' Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens described 'UK and Welsh governments working together and delivering for the people of Wales on economic growth, on clean energy, on water regulation, on health, and on plans for future rail improvement'. She told MPs that the Government had secured £80 million of support for the steel community in Port Talbot and supported the Welsh Government with £25 million to secure disused coal tips. 'The past six months have already seen billions of pounds of investment committed and hundreds of jobs created,' Ms Stevens added.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
People need ‘time to enjoy' saint's days, says Plaid Cymru's Westminster leader
People need 'the time to enjoy' St David's Day in Wales and St Piran's Day in Cornwall, Plaid Cymru's Westminster leader has said amid calls for bank holidays. In a debate to mark St David's Day, which takes place on Saturday, Liz Saville-Roberts told the Commons that not having a bank holiday for the event 'doesn't stop us from coming together to celebrate' Wales. But she said people throughout the UK should celebrate national saints 'with vigour and enthusiasm'. Neither St David's Day on March 1 nor St Piran's Day on March 5 are bank holidays. St George's Day, celebrated in England on April 23, is also not a bank holiday. But people in Northern Ireland and Scotland receive bank holidays to mark patron saints' feast days – St Patrick's Day on March 17 and St Andrew's Day on November 30. Ms Saville-Roberts, who wore a daffodil pinned to her top, said: 'It's a time of course to take pride in our culture, our communities, our language, each a rugged testament to our resilience as a nation. 'We are a nation of creativity and innovation. 'We all here know that Wales has the talent, the resources, the potential to be more than brilliant. 'But it's time to be more ambitious, it's time to up our game. 'While we may not yet have a St David's Day bank holiday, that doesn't stop us from coming together to celebrate what makes our country so special.' Ben Maguire, the Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall, intervened in her speech and asked: 'Would (Ms Saville-Roberts) support my calls to make St Piran's Day – the national day of Cornwall – a bank holiday which is taking place on March 5?' Ms Saville Roberts, who is the MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd in North Wales, replied: 'Yes, we should be celebrating our regional saints and our national saints with vigour and enthusiasm, and make sure that people get every opportunity and the time to enjoy them.' She also called on MPs to 'acknowledge the challenges we face' and said the National Theatre Wales company had 'shut up shop', after its closure last December. 'Our arts and culture, so integral to our national identity, they are at present hanging in the balance,' Ms Saville-Roberts said, adding that the NHS west of the border had been 'chronically mismanaged'.
