Diamond Jubilee: Your village needs YOU
Dear Parishioners,
The Ball Committee and the Diamond Jubilee Committee have been working very hard to ensure that this momentous event will be a huge success in our village, with activities planned for all ages and tastes. Saturday, 2nd June is the night of the ball, which has been well advertised and is on a larger scale than previous Sports Club balls.
On Sunday 3rd June, we are planning a village treasure hunt, 6 open gardens, an afternoon village cricket match, with teas provided by our two WIs in the marquee and a commemorative service at 6pm, also in the marquee.
As for Monday 4th, that will be jam-packed with activities, to assure an unforgettable day. Come and see if you can select the winning lamb in our races, scheduled throughout the day, choose the right numbers in our excellent raffle, participate in the silent auction, enjoy the wide variety of stalls, races and activities, gaze longingly at the vintage cars on show, purchase commemorative mugs, personalised for our village, relax with delicious meat from one of our local farms, barbecued just for you, and / or an excellent cream tea, to give you the energy for the tug o’ war or the welly wanging. Please invite friends to come along, as there will be plenty of additional parking available at Shepherd’s Down School, which is much appreciated. We are also planning a grand finale torch-lit procession to assemble on Shawford Down, where a beacon will be lit at 10pm, simultaneously with hundreds throughout the country, to mark the 60th year of our Queen’s reign.
On Tuesday, we are planning two walks of differing lengths to converge on The Bridge Inn, in Shawford, where Jayne and John will have a special Diamond Jubilee lunch menu on offer.
We don’t expect you to remember all this, as commemorative programmes will be hand delivered, free of charge, to all the households in the parish, by members of the Diamond Jubilee Committee, in early May. Each will have a lucky number on it, so be sure to bring it along with you on Monday, when the draw will take place.
The Committee is planning to give a commemorative coin to all the children at All Saints’ School and our pre-school. If you have children who do not attend either of these, please let me know if you would like your child to receive a coin.
All we now need to ensure that our hard work pays dividends is YOU.
- We are very much looking forward to seeing you all on the day.
- We shall need volunteers to help us cook the barbecue, man some of the stalls and to assist with car-parking.
- If you have a gazebo we could borrow, we would be very grateful.
- We would like some additional croquet sets for use on Sunday and Monday.
- Charters Estate Agents has offered us generous sponsorship. They will use their boards to advertise the event for us, so we are looking for householders throughout the village, who would be happy for a board to be placed outside their home, clearly without a For Sale notice on it. Charters will install the boards and take them down. All we need is offers of as many properties as possible on which the boards can be placed.
- Come and help us make our very own Diamond Jubilee bunting: dates to be confirmed shortly, so watch out for details in the next Parish Magazine and on the Parish notice boards.
Please email me or speak to your nearest committee member if you can assist with any of the above.
As we all know, the devil is in the planning. So, I thought that I would give advance notice of some of the competitions, to allow you to think ahead.
- Decorated scooters, tricycles and bicycles
- Decorated hats (all ages)
- The best Mrs Beeton Victoria sponge (for all ages): recipe to be provided in the programme
- Bring along your scarecrow, dressed as a King or Queen
- Bring along your entries for the photography competition, on the theme Our village (all ages)
- Remember to bring your camera along during the celebrations, to capture the moment, as we are planning to make a commemorative calendar of the event
Una Stevens, Chairman of the Diamond Jubilee Committee