Coronation joys

DAD turned a deaf ear to our pleas for a television until June 2, 1953, when Grandma invited us to watch the Queen’s coronation on her newly acquired set, followed by lunch.

We all sat mesmerised as the pageant unfolded on a 9 in screen, in grainy black and white. We stood for the national anthem and the royal occasion had the desired effect — Dad finally took delivery of our first television.

it has been 69 years between the Queen’s monochrome arrival in our lives and her sad departure, but now in a blaze of colour.

DOUG JENNINGS, Mickleton, Glos. MY EARLIEST, most vivid memory is of when, as a child of eight, we had a street party for the Queen’s coronation. The rain was lashing down but our parents were able to

carry on with the arrangements thanks to builders working on new houses on our estate. There was no glass in the windows, so tarpaulins were hung up and the builders’ trestles and scaffold boards became tables to be loaded with potted meat sandwiches, jelly and custard!

Only one local resident had a TV set but they allowed children to watch the ceremony for a few minutes at a time, in small groups. I loved the Queen from that moment on. PAULINE GARNER,

Otley, W. Yorks.