70 year anniversary
This Platinum Jubilee marking the 70th anniversary of the Queen’s reign really is a historic event, never before celebrated in this country and with only two other monarchs in recorded global history reigning for longer.
As you’d expect in a District of Flourishing Communities there are all manner of festivities going on the length and breadth of the District’s 365 square miles to commemorate the occasion and draw communities together.
These range from traditional fetes and street parties to vintage celebrations, scarecrow competitions, beacon lighting and right royal cake bakes.
There is a comprehensive list of the events we’ve been informed of on the Heart of Lincs Jubilee webpage.
This includes all of the NKDC visitor attractions, Sleaford Town Council’s programme, a weekend of activity at the International Bomber Command Centre and participation across nearly every parish.
If your local festivities aren’t listed and you’d like them to be, please do email: partnerships@n-kesteven.gov.uk and we’ll do our best to include them.
Share your celebrations
Do please send us any photos, either on the day or when the dust has settled, to communications@n-kesteven.gov.uk, on Instagram or Twitter @NorthKestevenDC or tag us on the day. Please use #NKJubilee.
Do you have photos of previous Jubilee celebrations in North Kesteven, or even the coronation? Please send them in using the same details. Any images submitted may be shared on our social media channels.
If you are posting content about the Jubilee, Buckingham Palace says: please use the hashtags #PlatinumJubilee and/or #HM70. It will be sharing posts from individuals and organisations throughout the year.
You may also wish to tag the official Jubilee channels:
- Instagram: @theroyalfamily
- Twitter: @royalfamily
- Facebook: /thebritishmonarchy
You can add a Platinum Jubilee gif by searching 'Jubilee' in Giphy.
Street Parties
The main national focus for street parties is Sunday June 5, as part of the Big Jubilee Lunch.
Always a popular way to bring communities together in celebration, invite your neighbours or the wider community to sit down together to take part in the Big Jubilee Lunch.
The Big Jubilee Lunch is still accepting orders for free packs to get street parties started or for people to find out where a public event in their area may be taking place. See also the North Kesteven listings for your area on the Heart of Lincs Jubilee webpage.
It’s too late now to arrange a formal street closure, but through mutual consent with your neighbours, you may be able to arrange something where there’s no through traffic such as a cul-de-sac or close, or on designated green space.
There’s useful guidance here on Street Party hosting.
Online party toolkit
Whatever shape your Jubilee jubilation takes, there is a vast array of resources available online to add to the jollity – not least at The Queen's Platinum Jubilee 2022 website.
There’s a great toolkit complete with downloadable cut-out crowns, colour-in corgis, dot-to-dot guards, poster templates and all manner of printable bunting designs.
There’s also a range of celebrity-chef recipes including a coronation aubergine, and a special Spotify playlist. All at: platinumjubilee.gov.uk/toolkit
There’s loads of stuff to search for and download online. Here are our favourites from the Colouring Heroes website
In keeping with the Platinum Jubilee Pageant in central London on June 5, communities are encouraged to initiate events and activities to come together anytime between the Thursday and the Sunday for this once-in-a-lifetime moment.
There’s a Pageant Pack full of ideas, a handy checklist to help you think of everything and suggestions on how to ensure a lasting impact at the Platinum Pageant website.
Platinum Pudding
There’s a new dish to bring to the party following Fortnum & Mason’s competition to design a Platinum Jubilee pudding or cake as the official sweet treat of the celebrations.
The winner is a fresh twist on the trifle with the winning recipe available online.
During the weekend it will be presented to the Queen, so making it yourself will be the next best thing to being at her table.
The Queen’s Beacons
Building on the tradition and success of previous Jubilees, community groups, organisations and businesses are encouraged to join in by lighting a chain of beacons the length and breadth of the Country and across the Commonwealth.
The beacon lighting will run to a prescribed schedule on Thursday, June 2 (9.45pm for community beacons) and it is suggested to follow this up with the planting of seven trees on the beacon site.
Registrations need to be made before May 31. There’s a guide on how to take part - and even how to build a beacon - at: the Queens Jubilee Beacons website.
Beacons locally include the International Bomber Command Centre at Canwick Hill, Timberland, Carlton le Moorland, Scopwick, Skellingthorpe and Thorpe on the Hill.
Not quite a knighthood – but NK’s next best thing
Given the immense time and effort invested in making local Jubilee activity go with a swing, you might think some people deserve a great big community thank you.
You can nominate anyone who’s worked especially hard and shown sterling community spirit and voluntary endeavour in bringing the events together for an NK Community Champion Award. See the NK Awards website for more information.
Think creatively around the categories covering community spirit, young achiever, contributions to sport, arts & culture, health & wellbeing, good neighbour and various other strands of thoughtful enterprise.
Keeping it Royal
Not forgetting the person at the heart of all this, Her Majesty the Queen.
The Royal Family website has created its own webpage dedicated to The Queen's Platinum Jubilee which includes an official picture of the Queen authorised for free download and use, plus lots of facts and further information.
Take a few moments to explore and see what you can discover about Jubilees.
Lovely Jubilee Jubbly
Raising money as part of your celebration? The Lincolnshire appeal in support of Ukrainian refugees is a great cause.
It’s run by the Lincolnshire Community Foundation which will also soon be offering printable resources bringing together the Union and Ukraine flags, plus the Lincolnshire and Ukraine flags in order to express a Big Lincolnshire Welcome.
Chairman’s pleasure
If you would like to invite the Chairman of North Kesteven District Council, Cllr Lucille Hagues and her Consort to attend your event, you can do so through an online form on the Council’s website.
All enquiries will be considered in drawing up a schedule, dependent on her availability. Cllr Hagues will be delighted to attend as many events as possible.
Bank Holiday bin collections
If you are planning a street party, please be aware that there is a need for the refuse and recycling vehicles to access all streets on their usual Thursday and Friday routes, so avoiding these days would be preferable. The collection crew will be working as normal on the June 2 and 3 Bank Holidays.
Please also bear in mind when you decorate streets, hang bunting, set out scarecrows or undertake any other special arrangements, that this needs to be done in a way that enables free and easy access by bin lorries and emergency services.
Please consider how you can both maximise enjoyment and inclusion for the entire neighbourhood, whilst not restricting those who need to get about to carry out their own public service. Thank you for your co-operation.
Ideas for a greener celebration
The Jubilee is going to be a wonderful celebration but it could also be packed full of waste, so we're encouraging more sustainable festivities.
There is already a plethora of Jubilee-themed plastic and single use items out there, just waiting to tempt you into generating waste while you celebrate. Here are some ideas about how we can mark the occasion while reducing our impact on the planet:
- Consider whether an item is recyclable or reusable before you buy it.
- Go for paper decorations, masks and hats, not plastic. Avoiding foil or metallic elements means the paper and card can be recycled.
- Reuse or make your own bunting from unwanted clothes or fabrics, or even knit some!
- Encourage people to bring their own plates and glasses to your street party instead of buying paper, plastic or polystyrene disposables.
- Repurpose and recycle wherever possible, and ask around before buying new items - a neighbour's shed might be full of festive items!
There are more ideas in the Local Pageant Information Pack. Please share your low-impact ideas and pictures with us at ClimateAction@n-kesteven.gov.uk.
The Queen’s Green Canopy
And of course, the commemorations don’t need to stop here – as there’s still tree planting that’s best done in the autumn.
The unique UK-wide initiative to ‘Plant a Tree for the Jubilee’ seeks to create a legacy in honour of The Queen’s leadership which will benefit future generations. Known as the Queen’s Green Canopy, planting projects can be uploaded on to an interactive map at the Queen's Green Canopy website.
Given our emphasis as a Council and a District in promoting enhanced biodiversity and tree cover, what better way to create a living, lasting and beneficial legacy than to add to the Queen’s Green Canopy by planting trees, hedges or bushes on a community or a more domestic scale?
If interested in commissioning a commemorative plaque, the Royal British Legion makes them to order as part of their support for veterans, people with disabilities an the unemployed.
Raising a Toast - licensing for pubs and TV
An extension has been granted to licensing hours for pubs and clubs up to 1am over the Jubilee weekend.
The Licensing Act 2003 (Platinum Jubilee Licensing Hours) Order 2022 provides an automatic extension for premises that are already licensed with a terminal hour between 2300 and 0100, via a premises license or a club premises certificate, for the sale of alcohol, the provision of late-night refreshment (allied to on-sales), and the provision of regulated entertainment.
Did you know the BBC is offering local communities a special one-off TV Licence dispensation? This will allow for the screening of live programmes throughout the weekend in village halls, community centres, streets and locations where TV is not normally watched without needing to purchase a licence.
Only Jubilee coverage is included in this dispensation. Find out more on the TV Licensing website.
National programme
There’s a national programme of events that runs broadly as follows:
Thursday, June 2: Trooping the Colour and in the evening the lighting of beacons.
Friday, June 3: National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral. There may be local church services on this day too.
Saturday, June 4: The Platinum Party at Buckingham Palace, billed as bringing together some of the world's biggest stars to celebrate the most significant moments from the Queen's seven-decade reign. Also the Epsom Derby.
Sunday, June 5: The Big Jubilee Lunch – the designated street party day. See earlier in this newsletter for useful links. Also the Platinum Jubilee Pageant in Central London.
For more ideas on how you can localise the fun, visit the Platinum Jubilee website.
Flags to download
| Document | File Type | File Size |
|---|---|---|
| All flags | 3.89 MB | |
| Lincs - Ukraine hand flags | 211.68 KB | |
| Union - Ukraine hand flag | 176.45 KB | |
| Union - Ukraine mini flag | 1.21 MB | |
| Union - Ukraine - Lincs cake flags | 2.34 MB |