Party planning across Wiltshire

Chippenham Town Council and the Chippenham Town Centre Management Partnership have joined forces to organise the free event for 200 townspeople, which will take place on Tuesday June 4.

Food and entertainment for all the family will be laid on between 3pm and 5pm.

Party-goers will need tickets to join in and they will be available on a first come, first served basis.

The tickets will be available two weeks before the event from the town hall.

A Golden Jubilee Day Parade will take place on June 3 in conjunction with Chippenham Folk Festival.

The parade will start from Wood Lane car park at 1.30pm, then down through the High Street and into Island Park.

Residents from Chippenham's Downing Street, famous for its street parties, will also be celebrating the golden jubilee in grand style.

Festivities will kick off with a street party in the afternoon, continuing with a disco and fireworks planned for the evening.

The event will run from midday until midnight.

Golden jubilee spoons will also be presented to every household in Downing Street as part of the celebrations.

MP James Gray invited local firm Travis Perkins to donate £345 towards the silver spoons, which feature a crest and arrive in a presentation box.

Mr Gray plans to attend the Downing Street street party on June 3.

He said: "I am delighted that the people of Downing Street are so determined to make it a day to remember."

About 200 people are expected to attend and the organisers have raised about £1,100 to date, but an extra £400 is needed.

Downing Street residents have organised quiz nights, jumble sales and a bingo night to make up the difference.

A jumble sale is scheduled for May 11 from noon-2pm at the Loyalty Hall in Woodlands Road.

Plans are also afoot to arrange a band and a firework display for the evening.

More celebrations are planned for members of St Andrew's Church in Chippenham, who will be celebrating the golden jubilee with a barn dance at Bosmere Farm, Tytherton Lucas.

lMeanwhile, behind the doors of jubilee headquarters in Kington St Michael, a hard working committee is preparing for the big day on June 3.

"There is going to be something for everyone and it is definitely going to be good fun," said Clare Lawrence, landlady at the Jolly Huntsman, who is leading the committee from the pub headquarters for 'operation jubilee'.

The day will start with a church service and continue with the children's fancy dress parade. While the children enjoy lunch and games, the elderly residents will also have a jubilee lunch.

The family party will include go-kart and pram racing, live music, a barbecue, grand raffle with a top prize of a helicopter flight and boules competitions.

Regulars at the Jolly Huntsman and other villagers have so far raised more than £2,000 for the celebrations.

"We just organised a few events at the pub including a very successful Caribbean event and limbo contest, karaoke night and a raffle every Friday night. Everyone has really pulled out all the stops," said Mrs Lawrence.

The jubilee committee will continue to make preparations over the next few weeks.

Over in Calne, celebrations start early on June 3, with a service in St Mary's Church, followed by a parade led by the Calne branch of the Royal British Legion.

The parade will go from the church to Marden Court where a giant garden party will take place.

Mark Wilkins, community development officer for Calne Town Council, said the garden party at Marden House was open to everyone on a bring and share basis.

The town council will be hosting a cabaret-style event, too.

There will be two performances of Happy and Glorious by the Salisbury-based Umbrella Theatre Company, one in the afternoon on June 3 and one in the evening. "We understand that the cabaret will be a humourous gallop through the characters and events of the last 50 years of the Queen's reign, everything from the Beatles to the Spice Girls and from Margaret Thatcher to Winston Churchill," said Mr Wilkins.

"It should be really good fun."

The town council is also planning to mark the occasion with a lasting memorial in the shape of a golden jubilee garden at the Curzon Street Cemetery.

"The garden is only in its planning stage at the moment but it will definitely be opened during the jubilee year," said Mr Wilkins.

The churches in Calne are joining forces to organise a Queen's Jubilee Celebration at 7.30pm on June 15 at The John Bentley School.

The format will be similar to the successful Songs of Praise evening in the town hall last November.

The Rev Colin Wood said: "We will include well-known favourite hymns accompanied by musicians drawn from the churches in Calne. The St Dunstan School choir will perform and read some of the poems the children have written about the Queen."

There will also be a small exhibition of photographs taken on the Queen's visit to the town in December and of the silver jubilee celebrations back in 1977.

Also in Calne, during the afternoon of June 3, residents living on The Green, Church Street, Kingsbury Street and Horsebrook Park will be holding a street party on The Green.

Planning for jubilee day hasn't been going quite as well in Malmesbury after the town's football club, the Malmesbury Vics, were forced to cancel their event due to lack of funding.

Edward Ferguson, the clerk of Malmesbury Town Council, said the football club had been the only group in the town to officially register an event with them.

Parties will still be taking place at St Mary's Hall in Gloucester Road, and Andy Nurden, who owns Nurdens Garden Centre, is also planning a celebration.

But the football club's party in the park was the largest proposal and would have been in the centre of town.

It was set to take place at The Flying Monk playing field, in Malmesbury, between 2-6pm on June 3.

"We were going to put on a jazz band, bouncy castle and children's entertainment, and invite people to come along with a picnic," said the Vics' chairman, Brian Slade.

"The football club has withdrawn the offer because of the lack of funding coming forward."

Government funding has been available for anyone interested in holding a civic celebration. However, a discrepancy over the date when the football club's application went in meant it has been denied.

Mr Slade has taken up the matter with the council and has written to MP James Gray to see what can be done.

There's happier news over in Brinkworth, though, as a retired vet found his own way of marking the Queen's golden jubilee while beating bank holiday traffic into the bargain.

Tomorrow, 56-year-old Jon Gambles will start a week-long trek on foot from Brinkworth to London, where he will be visiting Buckingham Palace.

The keen walker will be joined by Roger Pounder for the journey. Other patriotic villagers will accompany them for stages of the hike, which they predict will take about seven days.

Mr Gambles is already looking forward to the jubilee. "I think it's going to be a great party," he said.

On his trip, he will carry with him a scroll from the people of the village addressed to the Queen, congratulating her on 50 years on the throne. A palace official will collect it on her behalf.

The walk was inspired by a similar one that took place from the village to mark the silver jubilee in 1977, when two villagers, accompanied by a support caravan, marched along the A4 into London.

"We realised that wouldn't be very pleasant so I thought, what can we do on the paths?" said Mr Gambles.

Thanks to the route he has come up with, his boots won't pound pavement until he reaches the capital.

Instead, he will follow footpaths, arriving at Putney Heath before leaving greenery behind and walking to central London.

Sponsorship of the walk will raise cash for Brinkworth's church organ, which needs renovation.