Devizes has a right royal knees-up (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Devizes has a right royal knees-up

12:10pm Tuesday 5th June 2012 in Chippenham By Jill Crooks

Communities in the Devizes area came together to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Despite the generally cool and rainy weather people joined in fun events and street parties to mark the Monarch’s 60 years on the throne.

The big event in Devizes was on Sunday on The Green organised by the town council.

There had been torrential rain the night before and the wet ground was not conducive for people sitting down and having a picnic but there was still a good turn out and plenty of food stalls to choose from and stalls featuring local groups and charities.

There was a good line up entertainment and during the day it was mostly dry. After six months of practise the butchers at Walker Rose & Son made their morris dancing debut in public under the name of Devizes Jubilee Morris.

Other acts included The Good Afternoon Choir led by Grenville Jones, Pete Lamb’s Heartbeats, an Elvis tribute singer and Mick Jogger & the Rolling Zones.

There were heavy spells of rain in the evening but people carried on partying under umbrellas.

Carole Berry, of Devizes Town Council, said: “Even when the rain was pretty heavy there were between 150 and 200 people on the little Green. People didn’t give up and I think they were stoically putting up with the British weather. It was a superb and there was a wonderful community spirit.”

At Brickley Lane Recreation Park on Saturday young and old got into the patriotic spirit with face painting, bygone games, a pig roast and tea party and the weather was dry.

It was organised by Roundway Parish Council and coun Jeanette Von Berg said: “It was brilliant. I was quite impressed with the amount of people who came, it was very well attended and everybody seemed to have enjoyed it.”

About 140 residents of Wickfield, Drews Pond Lane and Wick Lane held a street party on Monday.

The weather stayed dry and many people were dressed in red, white and blue and 50 Jubilee mugs were presented to children.

Mini Olympics were held for the youngsters and traditional songs were sung including Land of Hope and Glory and the National Anthem and a toast to the Queen rounded off with a fireworks display.

The celebrations were the idea of Wick Lane resident Wendie Hockley, who has lived there for four years, and organised by a committee of six.

The retired nurse said: “I didn’t even know my neighbour’s surname until I started this. It’s been a great knitting together of the community. There was a mixture of people there. It was lovely and I think a few friendships were formed as well.”

Hundreds of people attended Chirton’s celebrations in the grounds of the primary school on Monday.

Various games were held along with a barbecue and live music.

Stephanie Robertson, on behalf of the Jubilee committee, said: “It was absolutely amazing and we had tremendous support from the village.”