P1009

Female
72
married
Evesham
retired teacher


Jubilee Weekend Diary.
Saturday June 2. Fifty nine years since the Coronation and the weather is very similar - cold with some rain. Speny part of the morning making a lemon dessert ready for a Big Lunch in our church tomorrow. Read the paper (Guardian). Spent some time trying to decide what to wear on Monday. Have been nominated to attend the Jubilee picnic and concert by the CAB as I have done 35 years service. The weather forcast isn't good as it may be cold and wet so very difficult to decide what to wear.. Made the lunch - omlette and salad with fresh fruit. In the afternoon walked into the town where there was a Family Fun Day in the gardens by the river. There were slides, bouncy castles,, a bouncy boxing match, free refreshments (hot dogs, burgers etc) and face painting (union jacks). Everyone seemed to be having a good time. In the town many of the shops had made an effort with bunting and flags. The council as such, dont seem to have done anything but the streets look quite cheerful for a change. We have so many empty shops. I think the best shop window was the Oxfam shop where they had used their stock imaginatively. They had a royal blue sleeping bag folded into a rectangle and turned it into a union jack with the stripes and diagonals made from red and white belts and two red ties.
Sunday June 3. A wet and miserable day. Went to church in the morning. This was followed by a Big Lunch in the schoolroom downstairs. I thought the idea of the Big Lunch was to enable various groups of people to get to know each other and all churches would join each other but Evesham doesn't do ecumanism very well so the churches had separate ones. About 60 people attended ours. Most brought food and there was plenty for everyone. There were quiches, salmon roulades, sausages and crisps with various salads and the sweets included cheesecakes of various kinds, a pavlova, an apple sponge pudding and fresh fruit salad. There were quizzes on each table with 20 questions about the Queen's reign. Our table scored well as most of us remembered all 60 years of it. We got home around 3 and watched the River Pageant on the Thames. This was spectacular and it was such a pity that everyone got so very wet. Still don't know what to wear tomorrow. Our daughter arrived to stay the night ready for an early start in the morning. She is coming with me as she will probably get more out of it than my husband would.
Monday June 4. Fine but cloudy in the morning. My husband took us to the station to catch the 9am train and we were in London by 11. We had booked a hotel in Victoria so went there first and then went towards Buckingham Palace to see if anyone was queuing yet. We had to go to Constitution Hill and were held at the top by a police barrier. We were quite near the front but it soon grew longer and longer as 10,000 of us had invitations. We saw people in all kinds of outfits from stilettos and fascinators to one lady in a strapless dress and it was really quite cold so most people were in trousers and jumpers. We eventually moved down the hill where our IDs were checked and our handbags searched and eventually entered the palace through the front gate, across the courtyard and through the archway into the inner courtyard where we were given our picnic hampers - proper wicker ones incorporating a red coolbox with the Jubilee logo on the lid.. We were then ushered through the main front door into the palace and through two rooms and into the garden. We found a place to sit on the lawn and examined our hampers which were beautifully packed with a five course picnic. We spent about 3 hours in the garden eating our picnic, talking to people, watching Princess Anne and one or two others who came to mingle. We saw the lake and the lovely trees and sampled the very upmarket toilets! We were then ushered out by a side gate to take our places in the stand ready for the concert. The weather had improved after one heavy shower and it was warm and sunny. We had wonderful seats in the block below the Royal Box. The concert was not as noisy as I had feared. I am not a big pop fan but parts of it were very good - particularly the new son "Sing". At the end the Queen appeared and Prince Charles made a speech. I have never heard the National Anthem sung with such fervour. It was followed by the most amazing fireworks and everyone went home happy. The organization of the whole event was fantastic and getting all those thousands safely out afterwards when the only exit routes were the Mall and Constitution Hill was a major achievement. My daughter and I were able to walk to our hotel in about 20 minutes so did very well. An unforgettable day.
Tuesday June 5. After a good nights sleep and breakfast we decided to go home as after last night anything would have been an anticlimax. We arrived back soon after 12 and in the afternoon watched the service in St Paul's and the carriage procession, the balcony appearance and fly-past. We also saw some reruns from last nights concert. Quite a few people knew we had gone so we both had several messages from people asking if we had had a good time.
The general concensus seemed to be that the whole thing had been a great success apart from a) the weather and b) the illness of the Duke of Edinburgh. Of course, being a Guardian reader,I am conscious of talk about bread and cicuses and what a dreadful waste of money when the country is in such a parlous state. However I feel that for 2 or 3 days people enjoyed the chance to forget the doom and gloom. Of course everyone has to come down to earth but it was good to have something to cheer us up if only for a few days. As for me, I had a whale of a time and so did my daughter.