THE Gazette's crusade for St George's Day to be declared as a national holiday has begun in earnest - and today we reveal how you can offer your support.

Last week, The Gazette launched the new campaign to get April 23 recognised as a special holiday - one when English people can fly the flag with patriotic pride.

Our campaign has been prompted by the wave of patriotism seen in the borough on April 23 this year, and during Euro 2004, when flags carrying the cross of St George were out in force.

As we reported last week, it was the first time for some years that the flag of St George had been seen flying in any strength in the borough on April 23 - and local people clearly enjoyed getting involved in a patriotic day of celebration.

The Gazette believes April 23 should be made a national holiday - but if this is going to happen, it needs the people to support our campaign.

This week, The Gazette has produced special campaign petitions to give readers the chance to register their support for our St George's Day campaign.

Petitions are available for readers to sign at The Gazette's headquarters in Pelton Road, and at the town centre office in 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 going to 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 the campaign address shown on the panel below.

If the support is there, The Gazette will take the campaign to the Houses of Parliament to show how strongly people in Basingstoke believe that the day of England's patron saint should be made a public 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 wave of patriotism shown on April 23 this year, so that next year sees an even bigger civic celebration of St George's Day.

A number of patriotic readers have already pledged their support to the campaign and some of the contributions can be seen on today's Letters to the Editor pages.

All sections of the community could become involved in events in the run-up to St George's Day. It would be a great opportunity for a show of civic and English national pride in Basingstoke - and surely that's something worth celebrating.

Do you have a view on this campaign? Are you willing to fly the St George flag on April 23? Do you have a story to tell about previous St George's Day celebrations? Send your views or stories to The Gazette St George's Day campaign, The Editor, Gazette Newspapers, Gazette House, Pelton Road, Basingstoke, RG21 6YD, e-mail editor@basingstokegazette.co.uk or call our St George's Day campaign reporter Paul Stamp on 01256 337486