Our Queen’s glorious rain!
RESIDENTS BRAVE SOGGY CONDITIONS TO TOAST MONARCH
SCORES of street parties took place across Greater Manchester on a wet Bank Holiday Sunday after residents decided to brave the rain to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee.
A few events were called off or brought forward after the Met Office issued a yellow warning for thunderstorms across most of England.
However, in the true spirit of an often drizzly Manchester, many organisers decided to throw caution to the wind and went ahead with their celebrations as planned, coming up with inventive ways to keep partygoers dry.
Georgina Poole, the organiser of an event on Alder Road in Failsworth, said: “We’re not going to let the rain stop us, we’re made of sterner stuff and we’re from Manchester so we’re used to this. We’ve got all the food sorted and each house has brought something to the party and it just felt like such a waste to not enjoy it properly.
“Everybody’s clubbing together really which is what it’s all about. I’m most excited about having the road closed off, we did something last year for VE Day but because of Covid we had to sit on our own gardens and the traffic was quite disruptive.
“I’ve been trying to think of games and food from 1952-2022 for them so we’ve got things like trifle, pineapple and cheese, and then they’re all going to play kerbsies later on. There’s also going to be some games with some prizes.”
Georgina started planning the event in February, when neighbour Brenda Braithwaite suggested they host an event to bring the whole street together. Once they’d decided to host a party, a number of households started meeting in the pub at the end of the road every Thursday to get to know each other properly.
She applied for one of the grants from Oldham council to fund the party, and spent the £250 making the best possible event for the 20 children who live on the street, by renting a bouncy castle, before asking an ice cream van to come around.
Kids were also given little souvenirs a commemorative mug to mark the Jubilee, packed up with bags of sweets to enjoy on the day. The grant also cov
ered the cost of buying BBQ food for everyone in attendance, with various people from around the street making cakes, snacks, and sandwiches to help feed the party too.
On Rivington Grove in Tameside, Barbara Mullis said: “We had a great time, we have quite a few elderly people on the street so we felt like we didn’t have much choice but it was great. It was lovely weather until it started to get a bit chilly, I’m really glad we managed to make it work.”
Judith Dewsbury, who helped husband Gary organise an event on Chester Avenue, Dukinfield, said: “We thought it’d be nice to get everyone together – there’s a lot of new neighbours so we didn’t all know each other that well and thought why not hey? Any excuse for a party.
“We have some people from different cultures living here too, there are some Polish and Ukrainian families, and they’ve all brought some of their traditional dishes today so that’s been really nice too. Everybody has done their bit, everyone made an effort to help and we’ve got pretty much everyone out here now too. Some people have brought their extended families too which is really nice to get to meet people and it’s great to get together.”
Whittles@Tokyo in Oldham decided to move their street party with music from the big band English Jazz Orchestra inside.