Roads close and brollies open for four-day party
From bunting stretching for miles to life-size cakes of the Queen, Platinum Jubilee mania has spread across Britain.
From bunting stretching for miles to life-size cakes of the Queen, Platinum Jubilee mania has spread across the country with the official celebrations starting Thursday..
The Queen left Balmoral and returned to Windsor Castle yesterday in preparation for the events to mark her 70-year milestone. More than 85,000 people have signed up to host jubilee lunches, from barbecues to record-breaking street parties.
About 39 million adults are expected to be celebrating over the four-day bank holiday. A Queen impersonator on rollerskates will entertain crowds at a town-wide street party in Chipping Sodbury, south Gloucestershire.
Alexandra Dent, one of the organisers, said: “She’s called Whizzer Queen. But we’ve got loads of bands playing as well - samba bands, wind bands, Morris bands, a local dance troupe and then a party band at the end.” More than 2,000 people dressed in red, white and blue are expected to attend the event on Sunday.
The high street is being cleared of cars and scores of posters are being printed. But the biggest challenge is to create a replica of the Buckingham Palace balcony to arrive on the morning of the party. The balcony will serve as a stage so the performers can appear to be singing from the famous location.
“Quite a few of our committee members or their husbands are good at carpentry”, Dent explained. “We’ve got a seamstress who has made the velvet drapes to go across the balcony. It’s going to look spectacular but there’s quite a lot of work to do on the day.”
Townsfolk in Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria, are gearing up for a Dancing through the Decades party.
Issy Bradshaw, 27, one of the organisers, said her late grandmother and great-grandmother slept by the Mall 70 years ago to join in the celebrations of the Queen’s coronation.
Bradshaw maintained the tradition with her mother by camping in central London for the Diamond Jubilee in 2012. She admitted that she did not hold particularly strong feelings about royalty. “But it’s trying to recreate that community spirit I felt down in London when everybody got together,” she said.
The Commonwealth will be celebrated in Northampton, where people will wear saris and Angarkha robes at the Indian Hindu Welfare Organisation.
“It’s open to everyone,” Neelam Aggarwal, the chairwoman, said. “We have a little workshop for the children to make the crowns and dress up. We’ve got bunting and henna tattoos. The only challenge we might be facing at the moment is the weather.”
Rain is predicted for the region but gazebos have been prepared and the celebration could move indoors.
Royalists in London who plan to camp out said they could easily ignore a few showers to be part of the event. Pat Hart, 46, and his wife Angie, 51, have travelled from Toronto, Canada, with their two daughters to witness the celebrations in the capital.
Mrs Hart camped out for the weddings of the Cambridges and the Sussexes and pitched her site last night (Tuesday). “We had some lovely British hail and wind and rain but it’s worth it,” she said.
Bakers and artists have also been keen to show their skills. Lara Mason has baked a life-size cake of the Queen that took five days to complete. The cake, containing 400 eggs, 20kg of flour and 20kg of butter, was served to bingo players in Birmingham.
Mark Bennet, of Dorset, delivered a four-tier cake topped with a crown to Buckingham Palace.
The celebrations begin on Thursday with the Trooping the Colour ceremony.
The Times
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