Queen Elizabeth ll came to the throne on 6th February 1952. Her coronation took place on 2nd June 1953. She celebrated her Silver Jubilee (25 years) in 1977 and her Golden Jubilee (50 years) in 2002. The only other British monarch to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee was Queen Victoria, in 1897. The main celebrations for The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee will be from Saturday 2nd June to Tuesday 5th June. For your interest, here’s how that weekend will look:
Saturday 2nd June:
The Queen will attend the Epsom Derby.
Sunday 3rd June:
The Big Jubilee Lunch: Building on the already popular Big Lunch initiative, people will be encouraged to share lunch with neighbours and friends as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. This might be a traditional street party or even a picnic lunch. Visit: http://www.thebiglunch.com/
The Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant: This event will consist of up to 1,000 boats assembled from across the UK, the Commonwealth and around the world. The Queen will travel in the Royal Barge which will lead the flotilla.
Monday 4th June:
BBC Concert at Buckingham Palace: There will be a televised Diamond Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace, with tickets being available to UK residents by public ballot. The musical programme will feature British and Commonwealth musicians.
The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Beacons: A network of 2,012 Beacons will be lit by communities and individuals throughout the United Kingdom, as well as the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and the Commonwealth. As in 2002, The Queen will light the National Beacon.
Tuesday 5th June, 2012
Service of Thanksgiving and Carriage Procession: There will be a Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral and a formal carriage Procession by The Queen.
Celebrating the Diamond Jubilee with a Big Lunch
How will you celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee? A record number of people are expected to take part in the fourth annual Big Lunch on Sunday 3 June 2012 to mark the Diamond Jubilee, and HOPE – the national mission initiative – is encouraging churches to take a lead.
Roy Crowne, HOPE’s Executive Director, says: ‘This is a calendar moment – an unmissable opportunity to make connections in your area, to be part of building up your community and to use opportunities for outreach through our words and actions. This could be just the start of 2012 community engagement with the Olympic celebrations following on. As followers of Jesus we should be in the business of community-building and sharing our hope with others.’
Churches are one of the few institutions that are in nearly every town, village and city, and so it is hoped that every denomination will get involved or even offer their catering facilities.
All Souls Church – a local parish church west of London near Twickenham – first got involved with the Big Lunch in 2009. Since then they have helped host the street party alongside their local residents’ association each year.
The roads that meet at the corner of the church building are closed and they fill the space with tables and chairs, set up a ‘bandstand’ on the corner for live, locally-sourced music and provide a bouncy castle, free face-painting and hot drinks in the church garden. It helps, of course, that the Big Lunch date is always a Sunday, so the congregation spilling out of the morning service joins with other local residents, young and old, each bringing food to eat and share.
The Vicar, the Rev Richard Frank says, ‘Our experience has been that it’s a fantastic way to engage with our neighbours, bless the community and open up the doors of church to those who’d never usually make it, even into the church garden. The 2012 the Big Lunch is one of the official events helping celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee. We’d enthusiastically recommend it for any local church in a residential area.’
Visit the Big Lunch page on the HOPE website www.hopetogether.co.uk to find out how you can make 3 June 2012 a day to remember in your area.
1952 – 2012 Celebrating 60 years of The Queen’s reign