Platinum Jubilee Afternoon Tea 2022
It was wonderful to see so many people turn out for the Old Woughton Jubilee Afternoon tea on Sunday 5th June at an event that chimed with the national mood around the Platinum Jubilee. More people came than we had planned for and we are grateful to St Mary’s church who kept our supply lines of water and paper cups and plates open.
The sense of celebration and fun was started with the MK Swing Dancers, dressed in 1950s fashion, who danced all afternoon. The Bullfrogs then took over with their uplifting folk music that was just the ticket for the occasion. Together they provided the perfect backdrop to all the conversations between friends, families and neighbours. Other activities included archery, and a flag and knot display. Many thanks to 1st Middleton Scouts for also lending us the shelters and canopies.
The Patch allotments provided further reassuring shelter (not the we needed it in the end) with their large marquee full of locally grown plants to take home. The local artists tent, with a wide range of ceramics and paintings, was a delight. As was the display of the historic photograph from the 1887 Golden Jubilee, held on the very same spot 135 years ago. We are also grateful to Woughton House Hotel who allowed us to take over the grounds for the day and provided all the tables and chairs. The hotel residents were especially helpful in setting up and packing down, doing much of the heavy lifting for which I (and my back) are very grateful.
Although the Jubilee is a national celebration it was great to see people from all over the world joining in, one personal highlight was seeing a local resident explaining how to prepare a cream scone to a hotel resident, who was having their first experience of a British cream tea. So many pulled together to put on the event, a wonderful expression of teamwork on so many levels and St. Mary’s brought proceedings to a fitting end with a Quarter Peel of bell-ringing written especially for the Jubilee.
Finally special thanks to Vicky Gladstone of Adams Court, who first raised the question at an Old Woughton Parish Council meeting, ‘What are we planning to do for the Jubilee?’. This triggered a whole sequence of events that culminated in a memorable and historic day.
So, a big thank you to everyone who came and helped, and joined in the preparations.
Cllr. Robert Grindley
| Old Woughton Jubilee stats: | |
| People attending across the 3-hour event | 250 approx. |
| Cups of tea provided | 250 |
| Home-made cream scones provided | 165 |
| Bell-ringing – Quarter Peal | 41 minutes |
| Home-made cakes brought and shared | dozens! |
| Union waving flags issued | 20 |
| Lamppost roundels | 10 |
| Promotional banners | 4 |
| Entrance markers | 2 |
Here we say thank you to our partners and friends who made our Jubilee celebrations happen!
The fabulous Swing Dance troupe from SWING DANCE MK. They have a 
Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/SwingDanceMK and if you are interested in learning how to swing dance there is a Swing Union Dance school, https://www.facebook.com/theswingunion.
A wonderful set was provided by the BULL FROGS playing, what they describe as “Original Outlaw Country, Southern Rock, Cajun and Tex-Mex”. They’re regulars on the local music scene. Their Facebook page is here, https://www.facebook.com/TheBullfrogs.
Thanks go to the WOUGHTON HOUSE HOTEL AND RESIDENTS for allowing us to use their grounds and providing tables and chairs.
The 1ST MIDDLETON SCOUT GROUP provided the portable gazebos and the archery.
ST. MARY’S CHURCH AND THE ‘TOWER TEAM’ who rang out a special peal for the platinum jubilee, which closed our historic afternoon.
We’re very grateful to the PATCH ALLOTMENT ASSOCIATION for putting up their marquee (our backstop if things really did get wet!) Through their raffle of the giant bear they raised £47, which was donated to Willen Hospice. If you would like to know more about becoming an allotment tenant visit their website here, https://www.patchallotments.com/ or the page on our own website here, https://oldwoughton.org.uk/parish-council/allotments/.
It was also pleasing to see that we have a talented group of LOCAL ARTISTS.
We must also thank resident Roger Bradbury, aka “THE NORTH BUCKS WANDERER”, for taking the group photo at the end. He has a blog here, https://www.northbuckswanderer.com/.
A sincere thank you too to our local PCSO TRACEY JONES for attending our event.
A big thank you to the MK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION for their grant support and also to other DONORS AND DONATIONS.
This work has been
supported by funding
from MK Community
Foundation
…………. and finally and of course well done to our ‘JUBILEE STEERING GROUP’ of residents and Councillors across the Parish.
Photographs and Other Media
You can see below a selection of photographs from those sent in to us. In particular the group photo of those that were left at the end. This photograph was taken by Roger Bradbury, aka. The North Bucks Wanderer, perched on the top of a ladder. Roger has a blog on the internet here.
There is also one photo from the Passmore Jubilee celebration showing the cutting of the celebration cake, and similarly a photo of the celebration cake being cut at the Woughton Park Jubilee celebration.
We also have one short video clip of the Swing Dance troupe and another of the Bullfrogs, which give a flavour of their performances. To launch the video clips click on the link at the top of each image below.
Finally we have a recording of the last two minutes of the peal specially written and performed by the St, Mary’s bellringers.
