There were no giants or dragons on the streets of Sidmouth for this year’s St George’s day, writes local storyteller Janet Dowling.

The annual event was cancelled once again due to Covid restrictions.
But worry ye not – the Sid Vale Community Productions (SVCP) managed to pul off another first with their black and white silent movie, which was shared on YouTube, of St George and the Covid!

Written by Barry Morton and filmed by John Flanagan and Liz Owen, you will surely recognise many of the players including Covid (who seems to have survived the Christmas people's panto!).

John Flanagan of SVCP said: “There are some traditions that need to be upheld. We normally have our local procession of the giant St George followed by a street play about the traditional George and the Dragon.
“With Covid restrictions still in place we couldn’t have a procession or any play rehearsals and we couldn’t have more than six people filming.
“So a black and white silent movie, where there was no script and six people at most involved in any scene, seemed to be the way forward.”

Barry Morton, author of the silent movie, said: “We were very careful to keep socially distanced during filming, from start to finish it only took 90 minutes. And as people know, we do like to have a big bang to finish off the villain!
“We hope that people enjoy our play and take on the hope that it inspires.”

The silent movie can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgl4bpctPw8
Or via the SVCP website at https://www.svcp.co.uk