Fareham council outlines jubilee proposals
By Connor Steel
FAREHAM BOROUGH COUNCIL have set out their inital proposals for the town as they celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June this year, with individual components put forward to be discussed and approved by councillors in early January at an Executive Meeting.
Her Majesty will mark her seventy years at the throne on February 6 having become monarch in 1952 and a special four-day bank holiday weekend has been announced by the Government starting on June 2; following events held for the Golden and Diamond Jubilees.
National events have been confirmed including Trooping the Colour, Platinum Jubilee Pageants, a party at Buckingham Palace and thanksgiving service at St Pauls Cathedral. It has also been said that gun salutes will be held across major UK cities such as Portsmouth.
Residents are invited to hold street parties and similar events within their communities, whilst there will be beacon lighting across the country over the weekend. Pubs may be allowed to open until 1am on certain days under plans this week, although this is not yet confirmed.
This week also saw the unveiling of two commemorative coins which feature unique designs and a portrait of Her Majesty, alongside an inscribing of the words “serve you all the days of my life” in reference to her longevity as our longest ever serving monarch.
More locally the headline proposal is the renaming of a public open space currently known to people as Daedalus Common, which is set to be called the ‘Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Park. This will provide foot / cycle paths, wildlife habitats and a children’s play park.
The area also includes the Gate Guardian sculpture and has seating available to reflect recent events held in lockdown, such as Victory in Europe (VE) and Victory in Japan (VJ). An unveiling, when safe to open to the public, may include a plague unveiling, ribbon cutting and a small gathering of local school representatives alongside community organisations.
Other proposals include a continuing of the tree planting scheme that is being done at Titchfield’s Abbey Meadows under the ‘Queen’s Green Canopy’. With the official planting period ending in early April, this will be finalised as quickly as possible to improve this legacy.
Final plans cover a potential beacon lighting event at Portchester Castle at an unspecified date along with council officials promoting the ‘Big Jubilee Lunch’ on June 5. It is not known whether a 21-gun salute from Fort Nelson will take place in a similar way to June 2012.
Council leader Sean Woodward was delighted to confirm these proposals in a statement posted on his social media and to Portsmouth News; also giving information about the way these plans were put together and why they had chosen these simple but effective events.
“No monarch has ever achieved a Platinum Jubilee and I think it’s something we should really recognise. The Queen is very keen that trees are planted as part of her Jubilee commemoration and we’ve planted 21,000 trees.”
He continued: “I did a consult on Facebook a couple of months ago saying Platinum Jubilee Park or something like that and a few people came back saying we really think the Queen’s name should be in it.”.
According to the official information and proposal breakdown report available here, costs of holding these events will cost £11,500 and these ideas will be discussed on January 10. No further information will be released in the meantime until final approval of proposals has been granted by the majority of councillors.
PICTURED ON SHUTTERSTOCK: Bunting in the sky as residents celebrate, a scene that will be in towns and cities in June this year
