FAMOUS for defeating the invading Danes when they advanced on Somerset, Alfred the Great has won another famous victory – more than 1,000 years on.

The people of the county have voted for the first Somerset Day to take place on Monday, May 11, commemorating Alfred’s historic achievement.

The day aims to bring together individuals and groups to proudly shout out about the great county we live in.

Celebration events will be run across the county and organisers hope the day will become an annual event.

Alfred only just beat off the challenge of a day to remember the Battle of Sedgemoor – 51% of the 7,776 people who took part in an on-line vote plumped for him, with 47% favouring the civil war skirmish and 2% going for St Dunstan.

Kit Chapman, of the organisers at A Passion for Somerset, said: “It was astonishing and went up to the wire, but Alfred pulled through in the end.

“Now the job is, in the words of Alfred the Great, to ‘gather all the people of Somerset’.

“The vote really galvanised interest in the idea of a Somerset Day – it created an intense passion and interest.”

The day will act as a fundraiser for Somerset Community Foundation , who we are very pleased to be working with.”

Among events already being organised are a barbecue at the Castle Hotel’s apple orchard in Creech St Michael, with morris dancing, wassailing and poetry.

Somerset Day falls four days after the General Election and Mr Chapman added: “We hope that Taunton Deane’s new MP will be involved in the celebrations.”