Somerset Day celebrations reach millions

With Patron Michael Eavis leading the way, Somerset’s birthday was celebrated in style across the historic County of Somerset on 11^th May.

The organisers of Somerset Day wanted people throughout the county to Fly the Flag for Somerset – and they did just that ! Flags were to be seen flying from our great heritage sites like Bath Abbey to iconic landmarks such as Dunkery Beacon as well as on and in thousands of homes, gardens, businesses and public buildings.

Trending on Twitter for over 10 hours the hashtag somersetday had a staggering 14.5 million impressions, making it the most successful Somerset Day ever despite the limitations imposed by Covid restrictions.

Somerset Day Chairman Denys Rayner commented “Residents and businesses certainly rose to the challenge this year and it was wonderful to see so many flags and so much bunting – and to see the huge effort put in by so many. We weren’t able to see a mass of events due to Covid restrictions and some were also sadly cancelled due to weather conditions, but they were replaced by a massive burst of activity on social media. The enthusiasm for our Fly the Flag for Somerset campaign goes to show the pride we have in our County”.

Primary School children joined in the fun with a competition to design a flag which represented their view of Somerset, with some really creative designs whilst others came together to perform “We will sing” a song specially composed for Somerset Day.

The Somerset County Youth Choir and County Youth Band contributed to the celebrations with elements of the Somerset County Youth Choir also performing especially for Somerset Day.

Lucy Housley, one of the organisers of Somerset Day said, “Finally, we had a chance to celebrate and meet with friends and family and it was wonderful to see our children and young students getting so involved in Somerset Day. Their enthusiasm was an inspiration to many and a much-needed tonic as families and friends started to come together again. We were also thrilled to be able to recognise some truly remarkable young people at the Pride of Somerset Youth Awards which were able to go ahead with support from BBC Radio Somerset and Taunton Rotary.”

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