By Cllr Clive Jones
It was tremendous to see so many people celebrating and enjoying the events over the Jubilee weekend.
On Thursday, my wife and I went into London to see the Trooping of the Colour.
We met people from all over the country, most of whom were under the age of 45. We stood in the Mall near to Horse Guards Parade.
The crowd in front of us was 12 deep; luckily, we could still see a bit of what was going on.
We were then able to get onto the Mall and be near to the Queen Victoria memorial to witness the flypast over Buckingham Palace which included the Battle of Britain memorial flight, the Red Arrows and the jets making a formation of 70 in the sky.
It was all fantastic.
Like so many other Jubilee events this was a real family occasion: not just for the Queen, who was surrounded by her family, but for many other people from all the corners of the United Lingdom, from the Commonwealth and indeed much of the world.
On Friday, we watched on television the service from St Paul’s Cathedral.
Then on Saturday I, along with several councillor colleagues, attended the Party on Elms Field provided by Wokingham Town Council.
What a great event that was, there were some very impressive tribute acts from the decades of the Queen’s reign; I particularly liked the Bob Marley and the Supersonic Queen acts. I spoke to many local people who were all having a lovely time.
Later on Saturday evening, we watched a recording of the concert outside Buckingham Palace. I enjoyed the performances of stars like Sir Rod Stewart and the scenes from British musicals.
But the highlights for me were the speeches by Prince William and Prince Charles.
Prince William showed us he is determined to carry on the work of his father and grandfather showing the need for us the take the climate emergency seriously, while Prince Charles told us what drives the Queen to get up in the morning, even at 96.
It was her desire to continue her service to us, a promise she made when she was 21, 75 years ago and something that I am sure she will continue to do with the very close support of her family.
Monday’s pageant was great fun, seeing Morris Minors, Dames in Jaguars and open top buses featuring entertainers, sportsmen and women and icons from the last 70 years brought back happy memories for many of us.
I was amazed at the number of people took part in the pageant. The organisers who put so much effort into making this wonderful four-day holiday a success should be thanked by us all.
We’ll never see this happen again.
The bank holiday events were a fitting tribute to a queen whose sense of duty has won widespread admiration, from republicans as well as monarchists.
Her sense of duty and commitment to public service should inspire us all, especially those who hold office in local and national government. They certainly inspire the new administration at Wokingham.
Cllr Clive Jones is the leader of Wokingham Borough Council
