| Leicestershire not proud enough to fly the flag |
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| Wednesday, 24 June 2009 | |
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But if you fancy flying one to show your support for the county, you might have more trouble than you bargained for. Businessman Roger Taynton, who has flown British and English flags outside his business for many years, has scoured the county for a Leicestershire flag – to no avail. In desperation, he turned to a company in neighbouring Nottinghamshire. Mr Taynton, 65, who owns Bond Street Glass, in Hinckley, said: "It is a nice flag which means a lot, but I've never seen one in Leicestershire. "Counties such as Yorkshire and Lancashire are proud of theirs, but in Leicestershire we don't want to know. It's disgraceful. "I have had to have two specially printed by a company in Nottinghamshire." The county flag was granted by the Royal College of Heralds to the city in 1930. Its quarters are alternately red and white. Each quarter bears a symbol from the arms of important families of the city. The five-petalled flower, or cinquefolium, was the badge of Robert de Beaumont, made first Earl of Leicester in 1103. The white lion with two tails on a red background was the arms of Simon de Montfort. The white ermine tail is John of Gaunt's, while the fourth quarter shows a maunch, the sleeve of a medieval woman's dress, the badge of the Hastings family who built castles in Kirby Muxloe and Ashby. Conservative MP for Bosworth David Tredinnick said: "There is no long tradition of flag flying in Leicestershire and I think that is because it's not really a very old symbol – certainly nowhere near as old as some other counties which have ancient symbols going back to the War of the Roses." A spokesman for the county council said: "We fly the flag from the central pole of the County Hall every day. "When we fly the Union flag we move the county flag to one of the outside poles as no flag can be flown in a more superior position than the Union flag." The county flag is not flown from Leicester Town Hall. A city council spokesman said: "We fly the Union flag daily. There is also a civic flag with the Leicester civic crest upon it and which is flown for civic events." Emma Archer, 29, is from One-Stop Promotions, in St George's Way, which sells Union and St George's flags, but has never stocked the county flag. Following the Mercury's call, Emma said the shop would now be ordering in some of the flags. Maria Scrivens, manager of Leicester's visitor centre in the city's Town Hall Square, said: "We do get asked for it from time to time but we don't stock it. Just recently we found a supplier so we may start stocking it at soon." The Mercury will be flying the county's flag today. |
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