Parade group may set up as a charity

Organisers of West Bromwich's successful St George's Day parade are considering setting themselves up as a charity to raise funds for next year's event.

This year's parade only went ahead thanks to last minute donations including £10,000 from businessman Chris Kelly, who runs truck dealers Keltruck. Now the Stone Cross St George Association say they do not want to cram their entire fundraising into two months.

They were left reeling when Sandwell Council announced in January that it would no longer provide the £10,000 needed.

Geoff Collins from the association said today: "We were saved this year thanks to the donations, most of which came from Chris Kelly. It was a big rush to get everything done and we want to make sure that does not happen again.

"We are already thinking about how to finance the parade next year.

"I met with one businessman who said he could have given us a substantial sum of money if we had been a registered charity.

"If everyone who attended the parade donated one pound we would have enough to fund it with some left over.

"We also had a media student filming the event and we are looking into selling his footage as a DVD to help fund next year's parade."

He said the association still hoped to persuade Sandwell Council to change its mind for next year and reinstate its funding.

The local authority axed its funding in January after reviewing video footage which showed right wing extremists marching at the parade.

Council chiefs then moved their £34,000 static event, complete with TV celebrity Keith Chegwin, to the day before the parade.

Councillor Derek Rowley, community safety chief, said moving the event would provide a "family friendly" event. More than 20,000 joined the parade on Sunday.