Jubilee Celebrations

And so our long weekend of celebrations have come to an end.
Since before Christmas, a small group of us have been meeting regularly to plan our local Jubilee event. We had so much planned, very exciting stuff. Music, dancing, food, arts & crafts, childrens races etc. each of us had little jobs to make it all come together.
It's been great fun and on a personal level it's meant I have become more involved in my community, I've met new people, made new acquaintances.
Our special day was planned for Sunday.
Saturday arrived and a group of us met at the community centre and playing fields to put up marquees and gazebos ready for the following day. The past two weeks have given us glorious sunshine but Saturday was 'drizzly'.
Not to be put off we continued, all hopeful that Sunday would dawn as a brilliant and dry day!
When I awoke on Sunday I was saddened to see it was dull and overcast and it had been raining overnight. I was actually woken up by one of our stall holders phoning me at 7am to ask what the field was like, was it waterlogged etc. As I don't live right next to the playing fields I couldn't really answer!
I'm happy to say that although it rained almost all day, many many people came and supported the event. About half of my outdoor stall holders turned up - hardly surprising! All but one of my indoor stall holders arrived too. One outdoor stall holder arrived, set up her gazebo and stall and then decided to take it all down and go home.
All in all though it would seem that all the stall holders did well, people bought things so they were happy. Meanwhile some of our scheduled outdoor entertainment happened inside instead. Every time I got a chance to go inside the community centre, it was packed with people. Watching a gymnastics or dancing display, listening to the Samba or Jazz band or viewing the wonderful displays of memorabilia set up by a local museum
and another by a lady who had worked for several years on the Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship.
We did cut our day short slightly but all in all it was a great day. Once people started packing away we set about taking down all the gazebos and tents. We stored them at the Community centre overnight and met again next morning to load them onto a van and return them to their owners, the Farmers Market, who had kindly lent them to us.
Hubby and I arrived home literally soaked through to our skin! We stripped off and had a lovely soak in a hot bath.....aaaahhhh bliss, followed by a much deserved hot chocolate.
We caught up on the National Jubilee events. What a sight the Jubilee pageant was although it did rather feel like we were looking at a motorway of boats! It was such a shame that it rained and I did feel sorry for the Queen who stood up for the whole thing. I know there were two throne like seats which she could have sat on but they were in entirely the wrong position. They should have been positioned facing to the side so she could easily have sat down and watched the boats going by.
Last night we took part in our own local Beacon lighting. It was quite something. We went up with our neighbours to a hill not far away. We had to drive over several fields until we arrived at the beacon. Two locals had been up to build it earlier that day, it was huge!! Several folk were already there, sat around on hay bales, wrapped in blankets. We took some wine to drink and all chatted. It was lovely to see people arriving, either the same way as us or emerging from the other side of the hill by foot.
At about 2215 the giant bonfire was lit as we all sang God Save the Queen and raised our glasses in a toast! It was wonderful to see the fire take hold and we set off fireworks as it blazed brightly. We could see for miles around and could see several other beacons, some brighter than others, in the distance.
When we came home we watched the rest of the Jubilee concert. It was such a great spectacle, especially where the stage had been built. There were so many famous artists playing. Highlights for me were Robbie Williams, Tom Jones and Gary Barlow and the Commonwealth choir. That brought tears to our eyes. The group Madness playing on top of Buckingham a palace was a stroke of genius especially when accompanied by the amazing lighting effects which were projected onto the front of the palace. It was truly wonderful to see so many thousands of people all there on the Mall, enjoying themselves, waving their Union Jack flags and cheering.
It was such a shame that Prince Philip was not able to accompany the Queen, but I'd like to think he's secretly relieved to be able to rest his feet and watch the coverage on TV from his hospital bed.
Today was the thanksgiving service followed by the Queens procession and fly past. This, once again, was a fabulous event. It's watching such things as these that make me so proud to be British. Seeing the beautiful carriages and horses, the accompanying guardsmen on their horses in their colourful uniforms is a brilliant sight. Hearing the bands playing and the crowd singing God Save the Queen is heart lifting.
I hope as a nation this has lifted our spirits as we look forward to the Olympics starting next month!

God Save The Queen!!