Published in Windlesora 19 (2002)
© WLHG
I cannot differentiate between the celebrations for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee and those for Windsor’s Septcentenary. I remember making Elizabethan costumes and a very special headdress, which we copied from a painting. The clearest memory I have is of the children’s pageant on Bachelors Acre and hearing Mary Kerridge reading words that I had written in The Changing Face of Windsor. We did not go to the bonfire on Snow Hill but watched the Queen lighting it on television. I remember feeling as though we lived at the centre of the world, when ours was the signal for all others to be lit.
Pamela Marson
It was agreed to hold a party for beneficiaries and their families in Clarence Crescent gardens. The Trustees made a successful application to the Borough to close the road on the day so that children enjoying the party could cross it without danger. Large tables were set up in the gardens and food, including a barbecue, and drinks were carried over there. Mrs Rachel Ashworth of 3 Clarence Crescent recorded in her diary on 7th June 1977: ‘Crescent Party in Gardens — very cold, sat round barbecue to keep warm.’
Joyce Sampson
When we decided to have a jubilee party in June 1977, Kimber Close was very new; people were still settling in and getting to know each other. We offered to have the party in our large garden at number seven. The day was un-seasonably cold and damp and we ended up huddled around the barbecues. However, everyone had turned up with food and drink, and good cheer, but best of all, most came back next day with tea-towels and dish cloths to help tidy up. This Jubilee party certainly brought a whole lot of new neighbours closer together.
Brigitte Mitchell
In 1977, Meadow Way, in Old Windsor, was filled with families with young children, so it was natural we should hold a street party to celebrate the Jubilee. It was an ideal road because it is a crescent and could be blocked off from traffic without causing too much chaos. Long tables were placed down the centre of the road and covered in decorations and food. We all contributed towards this spread and for small prizes for the children. It was June, of course, and sunny but I remember there was a strong, bitterly cold wind, which caused havoc with the tablecloths.
As a family, our memories of the day vary. My husband can only remember there were races but I know there was a mothers’ race, I think it was egg and spoon, because I won it, the only athletic event I’ ve ever won — although no one else in the family recalls my triumph. My elder son, who was just eight (his birthday was on the actual date of the Jubilee, 2nd June) remembers flags and bunting and the races, but most vividly of all, that there was a talent competition won by a small boy who sang My Old Man’s a Dustman. Unremarkable, except the boy’s father or mother was one of the judges (the names have been suppressed to protect the innocent). This seems to have left a lasting impression on my son of the unfairness of nepotism – a salutary lesson. My younger son (five at the time) can only remember being given a brown, earthenware jubilee mug along with all the schoolchildren in the village. We still have one.
I think those memories reveal more about us than the occasion but I do remember the warm feelings of community ‘togetherness’ and shared enjoyment which lingered on long after the party had ended.
Alison Haymonds
The Silver Jubilee coincided with the anniversary of the granting of thefirst Royal Charter to Windsor, and for me and my fellow Councillors the most memorable event was the presentation of a Loyal Address on behalf of the citizens of the Royal Borough. This recognised the interest and involvement of the Royal family in the affairs of the Borough over the years.
In due course the Borough contingent processed from the Guildhall to the private apartments in the Castle. Several rehearsals of the ceremony were necessary, but it is pleasing to report that in the event no one put a foot wrong, however nervous they were!
Following the ceremony we were ushered into a reception room where, in small groups we were able to chat to the Queen and Prince Philip for 10 to 15 minutes each over champagne and coffee. I recall vividly the good humour and breadth of knowledge of the royal couple and how skilfully we were made to feel at ease and I still treasure the opportunity that I had of taking part in such a memorable event in the history of Windsor.
H G Parker
On the evening of Monday 6th June my husband, our two small children, an elderly aunt, and I made our way to watch the Queen light the Jubilee bonfire on Snow Hill. To beat the traffic jams we parked on Crimp Hill and took the rutted track from Bears Rails Gate to the Copper Horse. We found a good place to stand, though how we kept three-year-old Olivia happy during the waiting I can’t think. Eventually the Queen’s Landrover reached the bottom of the hill and the crowd suddenly hushed as we watched her small figure climb rapidly up on foot, eyes on the ground in the semi-darkness. In my memory she did this alone, but of course there must have been others with her. I certainly recall her brilliant emerald coat and matching headscarf. Imogen, then seven, remembers the huge bonfire and the fireworks, which were blown around by a blustery wind. The showpiece royal portrait, which ended the display, was just a bright pink blur through smoke.
Next day the girls were entered for a fancy dress parade in Old Windsor. Imogen was Miss Muffet and Olivia a Fisherman of England in a mac, sou’ wester and boots. She had a blue plastic fish on a fishing line which she waved happily in the garden. But alas, when the moment came to enter the ring she howled and howled and would not join in.
My last memory is of winning a bottle of gin in the Jubilee raffle. But we’re not gin drinkers and the bottle almost had its own silver jubilee before a now grown-up Imogen rescued it.
Hester Davenport
In June 1977 I was 11 years old, lived in Dedworth and was in the fourth year at Dedworth Junior School. The two things at the forefront of my mind were that Dedworth was about to become a middle school so in September I would be going to the former secondary school building for lessons, and that I had broken my wrist a couple of weeks before Jubilee day.
I remember two main events; one was the Windsor Schools Festival, and the other was a Jubilee fair at school, which took place in school time!
The Windsor Schools Festival was a joint concert given by children from all the Junior Schools in Windsor. We performed the world premiere of Elizabethans All by Gwyn Arch, a series of songs about life in the time of Elizabeth I. We were all in Elizabethan costumes, and most mums recycled old curtains to make them. Finally, having learnt the words to all the songs off by heart, my school was chosen to provide the instrumental accompaniment and for the concert I, rather anachronistically, played the clarinet. The performance was, I think, in Eton College Hall but for me the actual concert was just a blur.
The fair held at school was rather more exciting than our usual school fete. It included an army assault course, which I couldn’t take part in because of my broken wrist, and a fancy dress competition, which I did enter. Sadly my entry, a corrugated-cardboard-and-tissue-paper representation of the beacon lit by the Queen, did not win a prize but it was great fun to make.
Jacqueline O’ Brien
I remember a lot of streets and houses being decorated. I cut out triangles from all sorts of scraps of red, white and blue material, and made yards of bunting to drape across the front of the house. We held a street party — but we had to use Trevelyan School playground rather than the street — even the Clarence Road was too busy to close to traffic! We had our tea sitting at long tables, and a few children’s games, and then had to scuttle back to our houses when the rain came.
There were lots of other street parties, and we joined our friends in Trinity Place for dancing in the road. There was a big parade through the Windsor streets. We stood in Alma Road and watched the procession. I felt proud of my just-teenage daughter, dancing with the Windsor Morris. I also remember that the schools performed a pageant on Bachelor’s Acre, and my son was Charles II, resplendent in velvet robes and a curly brown wig. We have kept the mugs that the children were given at school to commemorate the occasion.
Ann Matthews
Old Windsor started planning early for the Silver Jubilee celebrations and my husband, on the Parish Council, was much involved. It was decided that each child should be given a special mug and these were commissioned from the local potter, Wendy Nolan, who lived in the White Hermitage. The mugs were on sale in the village at such a price that each one sold also paid for a free one to be given to a child. Four colours were made, light and dark blue and light and dark brown. A children’s party was held on the recreation ground and special plates were bought for use there. We held a street party in Cell Farm Avenue, which was closed to traffic and decorated with bunting, much of it home made. Music was provided and barbequed food. My elder son remembers the freedom to roam round the village with his friends, visiting other street parties, while my younger son recalls the frisson of excitement when a friend of his father pressed on him his first taste of alcohol.
Our scout group, the Seventh Windsor, was chosen to carry flaming torches to light the Queen’s way to the big bonfire on Snow Hill, and my sons were involved. I shall not forget the walk up to the bonfire. The Long Walk was crammed with people packed closely together going up to it, and later in more relaxed mood coming home. For the Septcentenery Fair on the Acre my son was one of a group of handbell ringers dressed in medieval costume (made from an old blanket) who performed for the Queen. She stopped and spoke to them. We also visited the Rolls Royce Rally on the Long Walk and the Jubilee Air Show at White Waltham Aerodrome.
Margaret Gilson
Windsor Local History Group 