Our street “New Meadow” had a street party on Sunday Monday 4th June 2012 to celebrate our Queen Elizabeth II’s 60 years on the throne. Bunting was in abundance not only strung across the street, but also individual houses were decked out in bunting and flags.
Diamond Jubilee Street Party New Meadow Ivybridge Devon
We have a little open grassy area at the end of the street, where all the games and activities took place. 3 tents were erected to house the food, and drink, and as you can see from the photographs below, there was a fantastic selection of both savoury and sweet plates that each house that took part supplied.
There were all age ranges from young children to grandmothers and grandads and everyone was dressed very patriotically in their red, white and blue, and crowns were in abundance. Steve and I even donned face masks and went as Charles and Camilla, and I have to say that Steve took on the role so well it was uncanny.
Amplifiers were erected for the music and the party started at 12.00 p.m. and was opened by one of the organisers daughter’s who played the National Anthem on her trumpet, which was played note perfect. Then the fun and games began and everyone and I mean everyone took part. We had musical chairs where it got quite rough, and that was just between the adults and resulted in one lady being pushed off her chair and ending up on the grass!!
There were tugs of war, where the teams were mixed with children and adults and one team dominated each round and won the whole event and no other team came close to them. Please see video below.
Also included was a version of Family Fortunes which consisted of questions all about the neighbours in the street. Each team of 4 were picked from the hat and each player was provided with a royal face mask to wear – including one of the corgis!! It was hilarious.
We also played rounders, which resulted in the organiser having to climb over a wall into a garden belonging to house in another street that backed onto our little bit of green to retrieve the ball. Again no children were involved, again it was the adults who were causing all the problems. There was also a sack race, which was very difficult for those who had to jump uphill, which included myself, and it took a while to recover!!
We also had a game later in the day when an empty cereal box was placed on the floor and you had to pick it up in your mouth without knees or hands touching the ground. Every time someone picked it up in their teeth, that piece was then torn off, until eventually just a piece the size of a stamp was left. There were 3 of the children left at the end and to make it even more difficult, it was even put in a shallow hole dug out from the grass, and each one managed to do it – amazing. This is a very good game to play at any party, so go on, give it a go. Picture of technique shown below.
The hours passed, and when it started to get dark, one of the neighbours brought down an outside open wood burner to add to the ambiance and to keep us warm, as it was now getting quite chilly. The drink was still flowing and as most of the food had now gone, one of the neighbours suddenly produced a tray of hot chips which were very welcome. We carried on playing sitting down games and eventually we got home just before midnight. Yes, our street party went on for 12 hours and we couldn’t believe it, but we didn’t have a drop of rain!!! Everyone had a great time and those who attended created a brilliant community atmosphere that no doubt will be remembered for years to come.
Thanks for reading my post - please do leave me a comment below