YORK’S highly anticipated St George’s Day parade will not be going ahead this weekend - but Scouts and Brownies from across the city will still be celebrating.

This weekend the Scouts Association and Girlguiding in North Yorkshire are taking part in their first-ever virtual St George’s Day event.

Replacing the traditional procession and service, usually held every year at York Minster, this year’s online event will be held at 2pm on Sunday and will include a unique opportunity for those gathered to renew their promise from inside their own homes.

The event incorporates a planned mixture of live feeds and pre-recorded pieces, and the 30-minute event will be streamed on YouTube to an anticipated 8,000 members of both organizations, who will be tuning in to watch.

“In these unusual and unsettling times, it is great to be able to embrace technology and enable our members to still join us in this important annual event,” said John Ives, Scout Assistant County Commissioner.

“During the Coronavirus pandemic we are striving to make alternative provisions for our members and while switching to an online St George’s Day’s won’t be the same as being in York Minster we hope it will still be memorable and one of the better memories from this time that our members look back on in years to come and remember fondly.”

North Yorkshire South County Commissioner, Lesley Strathie MBE, paid tribute to the scouts digital team for setting up the event.

She added: “We have seen a large number of leaders introduce online unit meetings in the absence of being able to meet face-to-face, but this is not possible for everyone as many of our volunteers are key workers while others are busy trying to juggle working at home full time with the addition of homeschooling their children.

“This event will provide a wonderful opportunity to reunite our members and we are grateful to the Scout’s Digital Team for setting this up.”

For more, visit https://facebook.com/events/s/st-georges-day-online/1536994489791726/?ti=icl.