'OH, to be in England now that April's there', Robert Browning's much-loved evocation of Englishness is being pressed into service to celebrate St George's Day in Newton Abbot tomorrow.

His poem, along with works by Shakespeare and Rupert Brooke, is to be declaimed at the foot of St Leonard's Tower, Wolborough Street before a giant St George's flag is unfurled by schoolchildren.

The event will be dignified by not one but two town criers, the mayor, town councillors and sundry borough court officials.

'We are not planning to sing Jerusalem, it does have a slightly more religious aspect,' said Michael Martyn, steward to the Lord of the Borough, who has organised the ceremony.

'I have just ordered my red rose from the florists and I have been told that a number of people will be wearing them. I hope to present it to the lady of my choice whether she is chained to a rock with a dragon beside her or not.'

He said that Newton Abbot is one of the very few towns round about to be holding a proper celebration of England's patron saint.

In recent times there have been calls to make St George's Day a public holiday. There have also been calls to replace St George on the grounds that he has no direct connection with the country. In a BBC Radio 4 poll Edmund the Martyr, Cuthbert of Lindisfarne of Saint Alban were suggested as possible contenders.

Mr Martyn said: 'St George has been the patron saint since the beginning of the 100 Years War in the 14th century. Before that it was Edward the Confessor.

'Cry God for Harry, England and Saint Cuthbert,' doesn't sound so good somehow. St George has that martial element which is why it has caught on.'

The celebration at St Leonard's Tower starts at 10.15am and will be followed with the Borough Bread-weighing at the Union Inn at 11am.