A street party is coming!

My lovely Tennis girls derrieres are currently awaiting my attention...but they'll have to wait. I guess many readers will be aware that here in the UK, we're gearing up to celebrate the reign of our Queen Elizabeth II who has been on the throne for 60 years. Amongst the many official celebrations in and around London this weekend, many people will be celebrating amongst their own communities by having street parties and get together.

Where is live is no exception. Over the past couple of months, residents of the street where I live have met to plan and prepare a street party. Way back in 1977, Vicarage Avenue was the first to throw a street party in derby to celebrate the Queens Silver Jubilee. At the meeting last night we were shown press clippings reporting the event of the day and a letter from Buckingham Palace ( see below!) was shown which thanked two local girls who had written to invite Her Majesty to attend. the letter from a Lady in Waiting politely thanked the girls and explained that the Queen could unfortunately not be able to attend as she was rather busy. One of the girls who wrote the letter, Rebecca Haynes still lives across the road and was at the meeting last night...in fact it was Becca who first suggested the idea of a street party on our 'We Love Vicarage Avenue' Face book page.

A long list of jobs was drawn up , and residents have volunteered for them...or several jobs in some cases!. My job today was to meet with my friend Jane and her daughter Sara to pick any litter up on the street...we actually ended up with sweeping brushes and shovels...and cleared around 2/3 of the Avenue. It was hard work and after 4 hours, we were exhausted...but it looks much better now! That's why I haven't been at my drawing table today!

Here's a photo I published on Face Book earlier showing Jane and I having a little break from our sweeping up...(We'd already swept the area you can see on the pic!)

There are still many jobs to do including shopping, hanging bunting on the trees...blowing up balloons...delivering notices to all the households explaining the order of the day. On Monday we have been given permission from the local authority to close the avenue...trestle tables will be erected along the road for families to sit at to eat...there'll be games...dressing up and later in the evening, a bonfire and beer keg......

I'm hoping the weather will be kind to us...it isn't always the case on a British Bank Holiday...but if tired souls can end up around a gently glowing fire , drinks in hand at the end of the day...I'm sure we will all be able to call it a resounding success! May I take this opportunity to wish you and yours every success for any (if any) events you are attending or organising.