Britain first to go green for St Patrick's Day events

Britain steals a march on Ireland this weekend when its three largest cities all host St Patrick's Day parades. The parade in London will be the feature event of a day-long festival tomorrow, jointly organised by the mayor of London and Tourism Ireland.

Three of the city's landmarks host separate concerts, with a céilí mór in Leicester Square, a line-up headed by Altan in Trafalgar Square, and musicians including Declan O'Rourke and The Men They Couldn't Hang performing in Covent Garden.

Covent Garden will also feature a Bord Bia Irish food market today and tomorrow, with 40 artisan and speciality producers selling their goods to an expected 80,000 customers.

Sunday's events in London include a St Patrick's Brunch, jointly hosted by The Irish Times and Tourism Ireland, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The brunch will be used to highlight the range of festivals and other events taking place in Ireland this year, with entertainment provided by representatives of the Galway Arts Festival and the Belfast Festival.

Now in its fifth year, the London parade leaves Hyde Park Corner at noon, passing through Piccadilly Circus, Lower Regent Street and Trafalgar Square, before finishing in Whitehall.

More than 4,000 musicians, dancers and Irish community representatives will take part, and the event will feature street theatre Circus Bizarre from Irish company Macteo. Mayor of London Ken Livingstone will walk in the parade along with Minister for Justice Michael McDowell. Politicians expected to attend also include Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue. The fountains in Trafalgar Square will again be dyed green for the festival.

Tomorrow also features what the organisers say is "the UK's largest St Patrick's Day Parade" in Manchester. After a Mass in Irish at 10am, the parade will leave the Irish World Heritage Centre and proceed to Albert Square before returning along the same route.

Birmingham's St Patrick's Day festival begins today with a Reel Around the Fountain in Victoria Square. Mass at St Anne's church tomorrow morning will be followed by the parade, which leaves Camp Hill at noon.