Last week’s post was the scheduled sixth instalment in the ‘Watch the Stars’ mystery quilt, so I needed to wait until this week to tell you about the Jubilee celebrations in Ramsgate. If you live outside the UK, you may perhaps not yet be aware that we had four full days of celebrations to mark the platinum jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The whole country was celebrating.
70 years since the coronation
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1952 and is the longest-serving British monarch.
Flags everywhere
The flag of the British Isles, the Union Jack, was to be seen everywhere over the long weekend. In Ramsgate, this included painting the front of a pub, the Honeysuckle Inn!
As it is a listed building, it had to be painted white again on the Monday after the Jubilee weekend:
Makers’ Market
On the first day of the Jubilee, Thursday 2nd June, I joined other local craftspeople at a Makers’ Market (organised by artist Molly Pickles) near the Ramsgate Harbour. We each had cheerful, candy-striped market stalls complete with awnings.The day was hot and sunny and there were lots of people out and about enjoying the Bank Holiday.
On the Friday, my stall looked like this:
Parade
There was a band playing for most of the day, which added to the carnival atmosphere. There was a parade led by the Mayor of Ramsgate Raushan Ara (seen below wearing her mayoral chain and a red hat). Children in the parade wore decorated hats and carried signs they had made themselves. Shortly after the parade they had tea at tables covered by blue fabric, as seen below.
On Saturday, I was involved in some preparations for an event on Sunday at the church of St George the Martyr in Ramsgate, including installing bunting on the church gates. You can only just see them in the photo as they are fluttering horizontally in a fairly stiff breeze!
On Sunday itself, there was a special Jubilee Service at the church (again attended by the Mayor Raushan Ara), followed by a barbeque in the church grounds. Cakes were served, including this stunning creation by cake-maker Pauline Emptage.
My Jubilee weekend was completed by watching the BBC’s excellent summary of all the televised national events. If you are based in the UK, you can access it here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001847z/the-queens-platinum-jubilee-what-a-weekend
The highlight was a wonderful sketch starring the Queen and Paddington Bear (a favourite book character from my childhood), featuring a discussion of where one might keep an emergency marmalade sandwich – delightful!
On day two of the Maker’s Market, I am wearing a dress made from my own design ‘China Mosaic’ (seen below). You can buy the fabric here.
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Amanda Jane Textiles 
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