60 years of Royal celebrations
On Monday 4th June 2012, the parish of Sunninghill and
Ascot will join groups up and down the country by
lighting a beacon in honour of Her Majesty the Queen’s
Diamond Jubilee.
With the help of Sunninghill and Ascot Parish Council,
1st Sunningdale Scouts, Girl Guiding South Ascot and the
Rotary Club of Ascot, the beacon will be built at Victory
Field in Sunninghill and will be lit between 10pm and
10.30pm. In an evening that promises to be an
entertaining and poignant celebration of the jubilee,
refreshments and entertainment will start at 7.30pm.
The Queen will light her own national beacon at around
10.30pm.
This won’t be the first time that Victory Field has been a
A Bonfire Beacon celebrating Queen Victoria’s
site for Royal celebrations. In 1952 it played host to a
Diamond Jubilee.
‘Coronation Fete’ which was officially opened by Her
Royal Highness Princess Marie Louise. Around 2,000 people attended the fete which was organised
by The Royal Artillery and Royal Air Force Associations and it was noted that Her Highness stayed at
the fete for an hour and watched displays including a demonstration of judo by the Windsor Judo
Club. A seven mile marathon also started and ended at Victory Fields in the same year.
The 2012 beacon will be part of a series lit across the UK Channel Islands, Isle of Man, the
Commonwealth and other countries around the world to celebrate the Jubilee. It will follow a long
and unbroken tradition in our country of celebrating Royal Jubilees, Weddings and Coronations with
the lighting of Beacons whether they be on the top of mountains, church towers, castle battlements,
town and village greens, country parks, estates and farms and along the beaches surrounding our
shores.
Robert Ellison, chairman of the Sunninghill and Ascot Parish Council Leisure Committee said “It is
wonderful that so many community groups are coming together to help us create what will
hopefully be a Jubilee event that local residents will remember for years to come”.
A special book listing all the Beacon sites for The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee will be given to The
Queen after the event.
For further information on this event or the other activities of Sunninghill and Ascot Parish Council,
please contact Elizabeth Yates on 01344 630141 or sunninghill.ascot.parish.council@rbwm.gov.uk