Tunbridge Wells will mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee this week with a street party for every year Her Majesty has been on the throne.
According to Kent County Council, which has issued licences for residents to hold parties in roads, streets and cul-de-sacs in the county, there have been exactly 70 applications from people in Royal Tunbridge Wells and the surrounding borough.
Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1952, 70 years ago from tomorrow (Thursday, June 2).
Across the county of Kent, 550 community celebrations will be taking part from Thursday, when the country is given an extra bank holiday to mark the anniversary of the Queen’s coronation.
In Tunbridge Wells, street parties are mostly being held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday but the celebrations don’t stop there.
On Friday (June 3), a military parade will take part at Tunbridge Wells War Memorial, attended by the new Mayor Godfrey Bland and Vice Lord Lieutenant of Kent Brigadier Trevor Minter.
Following the salute, the crowd will set off for DUNORLAN PARK at 1:30pm, winding through Monson Road, Calverley Road and Bayhall Road.
A Big Jubilee Lunch will take place in the park itself at 2pm, where lovers of music and dance will be entertained by a diverse selection of artists representing musical styles from across the Commonwealth and beyond, along with a host of other attractions and events. The event will end in a Proms-style tribute.
Elsewhere in town, The Forum’s ‘Unfest’ brings music, spoken word and food to venues across the town on all four days. Listings are on Paul Dunton’s special Jubilee Gig Guide.
RTW Together’s Business Improvement District’s Cake-Off event rises to perfection in time for you to taste the competing cakes on THE PANTILES from 11am to 3pm on Saturday, accompanied by music from the bandstand.
A stone’s throw from The Pantiles, at KING CHARLES THE MARTYR, WARWICK PARK, there will be a festival dedicated to the Queen’s life in floral displays, throughout the weekend (11am-4pm, except Thursday 11am-2pm).
SOUTHBOROUGH AND HIGH BROOMS hold their own Jubilee celebrations on Saturday at 11am-4pm, at Southborough Civic Centre and Town Square. There will be live music, food, drink and visitors are encouraged to come along in appropriate fancy dress.
Elsewhere in the area, historical photos of High Brooms station will be on display in the station’s ticket office over the weekend.
There will also be a Great British Jubilee Picnic taking place at SALOMONS ESTATE in Broomhill Road, offering picnicking and games throughout the 36 acres of the estate’s gardens and woodland. Adult tickets cost £19.50 and children’s are priced at £10.50. This includes a picnic basket, table tennis, scavenger hunt, table football, lawn games and more. (Salomons Estate is owned by the Elite Leisure Collection, publisher of the Times of Tunbridge Wells.)
BIDBOROUGH VILLAGE is celebrating on Thursday, kicking off on its recreation ground at 12:15pm. It continues throughout the day with a fete and culminates in the lighting of a beacon at 9:45pm by the Village Hall. Tickets are £5 in aid of the children’s playground, though under 18s go free.
PEMBURY Parish Council’s Jubilee Picnic takes place in the Park at Lower Green Recreation Ground, off Lower Green Road, Pembury, at 2-8pm on Sunday. Live music will include Sonny and the Harp, The Patinas and Squeeze a Crowd. Stalls and activities include a coconut shy, fire engine (3pm), circus skills workshop (3:15pm), ice cream van, pizza van, tea and cake (all organized by HOPE Churches together). Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.
Meanwhile, in PADDOCK WOOD, the Community Picnic, hosted by Paddock Wood Youth Council, features a bar, bouncy castle, pop-up skate park and music. It takes place on Sunday at Putlands field, Paddock Wood, from 1-7pm.
Still planting trees for the Jubilee, CAPEL Parish Council unveils five newly-planted oak trees on the recreation ground at 1pm, as part of the Jubilee picnic (12-4pm on Saturday). The Cricket Club bar will be open.
CROWBOROUGH’S official events book-end the long weekend, between the beacon lighting on Thursday evening, and the ‘Big Jubilee Lunch’ on Chapel Green on Sunday from 11am-3pm. Picnickers can bring their own food or browse the food vans, while enjoying live entertainment and free children’s activities.
Also in Crowborough, The Blue Anchor on Beacon Road is holding a barbecue and live music at 12-8pm on Saturday.
HAWKHURST’S Platinum Jubilee Celebrations start at noon on Saturday. The annual fête, with free entry, includes classic cars, dog show, children’s entertainer and more, on the King George V Field. A big screen will broadcast celebrations in London, plus the Derby, and the Party at the Palace from 8pm.
In GROOMBRIDGE, the jubilee picnic celebration is taking place on the recreation ground from 11am on Saturday.
GOUDHURST has a busy weekend planned too, starting on the Thursday with a 50s family film at the Church Rooms, followed by the beacon lighting and fireworks. The flower show is on all weekend at Christ Church, Kildown.
Friday and Saturday are fully programmed, with daytime events on the Village Green, and evening events at the Parish Hall. Kilndown Cricket Club hosts a ‘Seven Decades’ car rally on Saturday.
The Goudhurst Club expects to do a roaring trade throughout the weekend, serving and serenading members and passing trade alike. On Sunday, head to the club wearing anything from 1950s-1990s, for an inflation-busting offer – first drink at 1950s prices!
LAMBERHURST is another jubilant village over the bank holiday weekend, lighting a beacon on Thursday night, while on Friday there is a tea dance at the Village Hall at 4-6pm. An un-ticketed concert at Chequers Field at 8-10pm, featuring local band Shot to Bits at 8-10pm.
Chequers Field is also the venue of Lamberhurst’s Big Jubilee Lunch, at 1-4pm on Sunday, followed by entertainment from the Pantomime Society at 4-5pm.
Further afield, HEVER CASTLE is holding an ‘English royal’ prom on Saturday night, featuring Elgar, Walton (film music from ‘Henry V’), Holst’s St Paul’s suite, and even Greensleeves by Henry VIII. Played by the Guildhall Strings at 8pm in the Two Sisters’ Theatre.
CRANBROOK’S celebrations are on Sunday at 11am-5pm, with a party in Cranbrook High Street and a band at The White Horse.
BEACONS will be lit in Bidborough, Capel, Crowborough, Goudhurst, Lamberhurst and Rusthall on Thursday evening joining over 1,500 across the UK and Commonwealth.
