The Home Page for Bourton on the Water Parish Council

Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Commemoration

Update 16th August:

Now that most bills are in the committee anticipates making a final profit of nearly £4,000 from the various events.

The committee met recently
(thank you to Mollie Wise for
welcoming us and providing a
wonderful supper) to have an
informal "de-brief"; this raised
some really useful suggestions
which will help in the event that
any of the individual events are
repeated in future years.

As advised, the profit will be put
towards a permanent
commemoration of the Jubilee
and some suggestions have already been received. However, we would still welcome suggestions from residents as to a suitable commemoration and this will be decided once all comments have been received.

Some of the suggestions received to date are as follows:

- Welcome to Bourton sign
- Diamond Jubilee Walk
- Hard standing on Green for bands to play
- Donate profits to Community Centre project
- Cotswold stone monument recording Bourton's history over the years
- New child-friendly bridge over the river

In order that the final commemoration truly represents the wishes of the community we need the community to tell us what they would like! We'd therefore encourage all residents to write in as soon as possible and let us know what they think of these suggestions, or put forward their own ideas.

The committee has also sent a photo book recording the weekend's events to the Queen so this will hopefully form part of any permanent historic royal record of the Jubilee event celebrations.

Photos
We're still gathering photos from the various events to make into a permanent record of this unique occasion. We were lucky enough to have had a couple of local residents who came forward to offer to photograph the different events. Particular thanks to Sandra Thurgood, who attended virtually every event, both in the preparation of the weekend and over the weekend itself. She must have walked miles and we're very grateful to her for covering so many of the events, especially those which took place in torrential rain! Grateful thanks also to Alice Close who supplied photos of many of the events which adds enormously to our record of the weekend.

We've now set up a Flickr account which will provide a "photo album" gallery to view the wide selection of photos from the weekend, taken by various people. Please click on this link which will take you direct to the Flickr web-site. The photos have been grouped together in sets under the different event names. The photos are not downloadable as the copyright to these remains with the different photographers. However, you can order copies or other memorabilia (ie photo books etc) and these orders can be placed either direct with Flickr or by contacting the Clerk in the Council office.

The Council also has a folder of the photos in a larger size format in the Council office and residents will be able to order copies of these at cost price through the office, if they wish. Many of these excellent photos are of local residents and we're sure they will be of enormous interest, particularly for those who were there. Anyone wishing to have a look at these folders or place an order are invited to come into the office during opening hours only (ie Tues-Thurs 12.30-3.30).

Below are details from some of the different events that took place over the 4 days from 2nd - 5th June

Dinner Dance: Over 90 residents enjoyed a great evening's entertainment in the Royal British Legion Hall from The Occasional Big Band and the evening was agreed to be a big success, with a big contribution from local residents who made and served the food and the Royal British Legion who waived fees for hire of the hall.

Concert: Despite some really horrible weather and constant rain throughout the day, the concert went ahead and a great time was had by those who braved the conditions. We believe that between 700-800 residents turned up to hear a fantastic band, Rhapsody - is this the real Queen - put on a great show. No doubt it would have been an even better event with better weather but it was still a really enjoyable evening. Despite being completely soaked themselves, the band were amazing and really entered into the spirit of the event. A huge thank you to them, and also to those residents who came along and made it such a success.

A similar thank you to those who helped prepare the school field beforehand and clear up afterwards, as they were soaked before a note had even been played. It's impossible to thank everyone personally here, but they know who they are and the concert couldn't have gone ahead without their help.

Open Gardens: Again, this was affected by the horrible weather on the Sunday but nevertheless a considerable number again braved the rain and visited the many local residents who'd opened their gardens. A big thank-you to those residents who must have struggled in the wet Spring to get their displays ready, and we've had a lot of comments from those who did visit that they very much enjoyed visiting the gardens which were open.

Street Party: Unbelievably, the weather stayed dry for the entire day, which was just as well as quite a few committee members would have been at their wit's end if there'd been a repeat of Sunday's constant downpour....

It was a lovely day, with a really good atmosphere, and it was particularly nice to see so many residents out and about enjoying the various events, as this day was intended mainly for local residents, although visitors were warmly welcomed.

We were fortunate enough to have a local lad and former Cotswold School student, Sam Twiston-Davies, now one of England's top jockeys, to open our event, and luckily he also had time to get to Towcester later that afternoon and ride a winner and a second. A big thank you to Sam for giving up his time in an extremely busy day to be part of this event.

Again, the feedback seems to be that there was about the right mix of things going on during the day for most people to find something they enjoyed, and the parade and flotilla were particularly popular as they gave the opportunity for our local residents to show what a lot of imagination they have! The football in the river was, as always, great entertainment and the usual number of spectators went home soaked....

The 3 bands who played during the afternoon and evening were excellent and crowds remained on the Green late into the evening, enjoying the music. Particular thanks to Purgatory Shift who kindly played for free. The evening was rounded off with fireworks and lighting of the Queen's beacon - a big thank you to Ken Hackling for building and lighting the bonfire. It could be seen from a long way off and must have cranked up the thermometer to something like normal June temperatures, in Lankett Lane at least...

Diamond Generation Tea-Party: The Rotary Club-organised tea-party went ahead on the Tuesday in the Royal British Legion Hall with more than 90 residents attending, a lot of whom were transported to and from the hall by volunteers. A great time was had by all and a big thank you to the Rotary Club, volunteers including the guides/brownies, the Royal British Legion for again kindly allowing use of the Hall at no cost, and also local businesses who donated the refreshments.

There were so many other events going on during the weekend it would be impossible to list them all, but every one of them attracted large, appreciative and enthusiastic crowds. Again, a huge number of volunteers made all the events possible, both in the months leading up to the weekend and also on the day of each event. They are all being thanked personally but we know that residents will join in with us in offering a huge thank-you to them for their time and efforts. If you want to have an idea of how much preparation goes into this sort of event, perhaps you can put your name down early for the next Jubilee...!

Jubilee Raffle - List of prize winners

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