Let's really celebrate St Andrew's Day in Moray

An Elgin councillor is joining the Scottish Parliament cross party working group to champion celebrations for St Andrew’s Day.

Jérémie Fernandes wants greater recognition of November 30 as a national holiday, particularly in Moray.

Cllr Fernandes (Elgin North, SNP) joined the working group after a request for the country’s 32 local authorities to appoint delegates.

He said: "This is something I was really keen to do because it means Scottish people can celebrate their culture in a wider sense.

"I sometimes feel people in Scotland are not always as proud of their culture as some other countries.

"But there's a very vibrant culture here that others would envy.

"There's a lot going on. This gives us an opportunity to celebrate that diversity."

Part of the role will be to encourage events around the country on or around November 30.

Cllr Fernandes would like to see this tie in with the development of a cultural quarter in Elgin, earmarked to be part of the £100 million Moray Growth Deal.

St Andrew’s Day was declared a bank holiday in 2006 with the unanimous approval of the Scottish Parliament.

However it is not widely recognised.

The working groups want the holiday to have a higher profile for economic and social reasons as well as for cultural ones.

Its membership includes six MSPs – two from each from the SNP, Conservatives and Labour.

There are also 15 other members, amongst them the former MP and MSP Dennis Canavan.

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