Happy birthday Your Majesty!
On the Queen's 96th birthday we're pleased to announce more details of events to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee and introduce the Festival of Flowers.Tuesday, 21 April is The Queen's 96th birthday, and we'd like to take the opportunity to wish her many happy returns of the day.
We can't think of a more appropriate time to let you know more about the programme of events being planned to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee.
In January we invited residents to share ideas about how to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee: the most popular suggestion by far was a street party in the High Street. We’d like to thank all those involved in the town’s preparations: there are several community-led groups busy planning a range of activities. As that is still underway we aren’t able to announce all the events or details just yet, but wanted to take the opportunity to let you know about the events that have been confirmed so far.
Please save the dates, and check back with us for updates – more events will be announced soon!
ALL YEAR
Plant a Tree for the Jubilee
The aim is to plant 70 trees to mark the 70 years of The Queen’s reign: as we plant the trees, we’ll mark them on the map of the Queen’s Green Canopy. They won't all be planted on the Jubilee Weekend itself because June isn’t the best time for tree planting. Details of local tree planting coming soon: more information about the Queen’s Green Canopy can be found at https://queensgreencanopy.org/
MAY
Monday 30 and Tuesday 31 May
The Merchant’s House presents Marlborough’s Royal Links – an exhibition showcasing memorabilia and photographs ranging from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II. 10am to 3pm in The Court Room at the Town Hall
Tuesday 31 May
The Merchant’s House presents Royal Fashion in the Age of Queen Victoria – 1.45pm in The Assembly Room at the Town Hall. More details and tickets available at https://www.themerchantshouse.co.uk/events/details/78
JUNE
The Jubilee Bank Holiday Weekend - Thursday 2 June to Sunday 4 June
ALL WEEKEND
St Peter's Church : Church open all weekend for Festival of Flags & Flowers, Tower tours, pop-up dining at the west end of the churchyard or bring your own picnic at the east of the churchyard
THURSDAY 2 JUNE
High Street Party : A street party in the High Street in the afternoon from 2pm to 5pm with live music, street entertainment, fun and games for all. We will be taking bookings for tables and chairs so you can come along, bring your own picnic and enjoy the afternoon with family and friends. Watch this space for more details.
Tree Planting : Ceremonial tree planting in Priory Gardens
Beacon : To mark the Platinum Jubilee more than 1,500 beacons will be lit throughout the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, UK Overseas Territories and in capital cities of the Commonwealth. The Beacons in the Commonwealth Countries & United Kingdom Overseas Territories will be lit at 9.15pm local time, The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Anchor Chain will be lit at 9.30pm and the Beacons along Hadrian’s Wall will be lit at 10pm. All other Beacons throughout the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man, including the Beacon at Marlborough Common, will be lit at 9.45pm. https://www.queensjubileebeacons.com/beacon-events
FRIDAY 3 JUNE
Family Afternoon Tea : Emmanuel Church is hosting a Family Afternoon Tea at the Recreation Ground at Salisbury Road from 3.30pm to 5pm
SATURDAY 4 JUNE
Royal Connections at Marlborough College : Marlborough College will be opening its doors for 30-minute ‘Royal Connections’ tours from 9.30am to 12.30pm
Classic Cars : U3A is organising a classic car parade around the town, ending up in the High Street alongside the market from 10.30am
Family Festival in The Parade : activities include an outdoor café, pop-up food festival, BBQ, stalls, fun and games and more
SUNDAY 5 JUNE
Civic service at St Mary’s church
The Great Marlborough Bake-Off : judging in the Town Hall in the afternoon. Rules, entry forms, timing, announcement of guest judge and more details coming soon
Manton Street party : 2pm to 5pm in the High Street, Manton – live music, food and drink
Royal Picnic : Marlborough Rotary will be hosting a Platinum Picnic on The Common from 2pm to 10pm
MORE EVENTS COMING SOON! Please check back with us for updates.
JULY: FESTIVAL OF FLOWERS
As part of the town’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations we’re inviting everyone to get involved in activities to festoon Marlborough with flowers during July 2022. How you choose to get involved is up to you: residents, businesses, pubs, community groups and schools are all invited. There are no rules: the only limit is your imagination and creativity and what you do may include, but not be limited to: Your front garden, a window box, a display in your window …Platinum Jubilee or royal theme optional!
Whatever you decide to do, please let us know: send us a photo, or ask us to come and take one. It would be perfect if your creation could be easily seen from the street so people can come and admire your work. If this is the case, for example a front garden, then let us know and we’ll create a walking trail map so that we can all take a stroll to admire each other’s efforts. If not, a photo for our online gallery will be great too. Remember that simple things like litter picking your street or cleaning windows will add to the overall effect.
We will create a lasting gallery of photos of your displays and creations and publish them on our website and social media. The Festival is just for fun, so no rules, judging or prizes.
We really hope you’ll join us to make Marlborough beautiful with flowers this year. Start planning and, more importantly, start planting!
MARLBOROUGH IN BLOOM
The Bloomers have taken the difficult decision to take a break. Like many of us, the members of the Marlborough in Bloom Committee struggled to keep things going during and after 2020 because of Covid-19, but it disbanded on a high with another Gold for the town. As a result the town’s 2021 entry into the South West in Bloom competition was led by the Town Council with gratefully received support from Val Compton (founder of the Waterfront Garden in Kennet Place) who worked with the Its Your Neighbourhood entrants last year. That doesn’t mean the Its Your Neighbourhood folks have hung up their gardening gloves: far from it! https://www.marlboroughinbloom.org.uk/iyn-projects-2021
We’d like to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU to all the people who have planted, weeded, painted, litter-picked and generally beautified our town over the years: Marlborough in Bloom has achieved so much since 2015, scooping Gold awards for the town and armfuls of silverware, certificates and individual awards for community gardens, conservation, business displays and, more importantly, making our town BEAUTIFUL for all of us and our visitors.
This may not be goodbye forever, but there will be no entry into the South West in Bloom competition this year. With some very heavy hints from Val, as part of our Platinum Jubilee celebrations and to fill the gap we have launched this Festival of Flowers for 2022 in its place. We’ve selected July because that is usually when the RHS judges have paid us a visit, and to keep the Jubilee celebrations going beyond the June bank holiday. We hope it will ensure that we can all continue to admire and be proud of Marlborough, in bloom.
Whether you do it for the Queen, yourself, your street or your community, we really hope you’ll join us.
#PlatinumJubilee #HM70