Gosport street goes ‘viral’ with Jubilee party
By Connor Steel
A road in Gosport has received nationwide attention this weekend as it prepared for its Queen’s Platinum Jubilee street party on Saturday afternoon (June 4); decorations including 4.5km of British themed bunting and flags lighting up the tight-knit neighbourhood from early last week as they enjoyed the historic occasion.
Residents of Selsey Avenue, Elson, have come together over recent months to plan this tribute to Her Majesty led by popular Gosport names Del and Linda Ince. Between them they successfully applied for permission to close the road and two neighbours spent hours erecting the bunting which lined the street.
And the result was a huge success as new Mayor of Gosport Jamie Hutchison opened the event, which included a town crier, fancy dress, and a crown competition for children. A pearly king and queen were also in attendance, Christine and Malcolm Chapman dressing up before posing for photos with their neighbours.
Entertainment included musical performances of songs including Land of Hope & Glory and the National Anthem as the sun came out from beyond the clouds; with people dancing, singing. and socialising during a merry afternoon that will be remembered by everyone who was lucky enough to attend the joyful festivities.
One attendee told the Globe on Saturday night: “What a brilliant afternoon at Selsey Avenue, it was fantastic to be part of an amazing event that brought us altogether again. The last two years have been tough but it didn’t matter today!! Many thanks for everybody who organised this event, one that I won’t forget in a hurry.”
But even before the street party had started, the road had gone viral on social media due to a Tik-Tok video from a Gosport resident visiting their family member in the area. In the nine second video the camera swings to show a panoramic view of the bunting decorations from the quiet road without any moving interruptions.
This short Tik-tok video available here has gained over half a million views in just seventy two hours, with a total of 521,000 watches at the time of writing on Sunday evening. A second video posted by the same user on Saturday shows a drive down the road, accompanied by a remastered version of “Don’t Stop Me Now”.
Portsmouth News were also in attendance at the fantastic event that did Gosport and Her Majesty proud, taking photographs and interviewing people who were enjoying the occasion. Readers can see their article on the street party and view the shots by visiting their link here, published on Sunday morning (June 5).
PICTURED BY DEL INCE: Great atmospheric celebrations at Selsey Avenue party on Saturday afternoon.