THERE is now another "plaice" where people can chip in with their support for The Gazette's

St George's Day campaign - the award-winning restaurant and takeaway, Oliver's!

The Old Basing fish and chip shop has given its backing to the campaign, and copies of The Gazette petition, which is calling for St George's Day to be made a national holiday, are now available there for customers to sign.

There is nothing more English than fish and chips - so where better to sign up and let your voice be heard than the London Road shop?

Darren Chojecki, a manager at Oliver's - which has twice been voted by Gazette readers as Basingstoke's best fish and chip shop - lent his support to the campaign.

He said: "St George's Day seems to pass without anything happening. It is the opposite to St Patrick's Day."

Petitions are not only available at Oliver's but also at The Gazette's offices in Pelton Road and Church Street, so if you want to show your support, pop in during normal office hours from Monday to Friday and sign one of the forms.

You can also download forms for signing by clicking on the St George's Day campaign folder in our "Campaigns" section of this website.

Once completed, any forms that are downloaded should be sent to our offices in Pelton Road, Basingstoke.

If the support is there, The Gazette will take the campaign to the Houses of Parliament to show how strongly people in Basingstoke feel that the day of England's patron saint should be made a bank holiday.

Whatever the outcome of this aspect of the campaign, The Gazette wants to hear from local people about how the town and borough can build on the local wave of patriotism that was evident on April 23 this year, so next year sees an even bigger civic celebration of St George's Day.