Queen's Golden Jubilee Celebrations

1st - 4th June, 2002

Earl Soham celebrated the Golden Jubilee with a Flower Festival in the the church throughout the weekend, and with a full programme of events for the afternoon and evening of the 4th June. Throughout the weekend, many houses in the village were decorated with flags and bunting.

To see more pictures of the decorations, and to solve the mystery of the picture on the right, click here!

The Flower Festival had a patriotic theme of red, white and blue flowers. The arrangements were supported by pictures of the Queen, painted by children at the village primary school. One view of the flowers in the church is shown above. For the full set of pictures, click here.

You can't hear the bells (there is no sound on this Website!), but the activities on Tuesday 4th were started with bell-ringing (in the tower, above) followed by a short outdoor service, lead by the Rev. John Peck, the Baptist Minister. Click here photos of the service.

What was this queue for? The people were queueing to see an exhibition of children's work was on display in the school. Part of the exhibition had a Jubilee theme (crowns, paintings of the Queen). Other exhibits were related to Sutton Hoo and to work on "the environment". For pictures, click here.

A Treasure Hunt, through gardens in the village taking part in the "Gardens Open", was started from the school playground at 2 p.m. Photos showing glimpses of the gardens and some of the treasure hunters are available here.

Following the Treasure Hunt, a series of fun races for all ages were held on the field, known as "The Lawn", near the Village Green. To support the races, elements of the Queen's flypast flew overhead several times! Pictures here.

Finally, to wrap up the celebrations, a free barbecue was held on a grassy area next to Village Hall (where everyone could shelter from the rain if necessary!). Over 200 people enjoyed the socialising, the ample barbecue and delicious desserts, washed down with drinks from the bar organised by the Victoria, the village pub (and brewery) - including a special Jubilee ale called "Elizabeth". If you were there, check here to see if you were caught on camera!

A large proportion of the village enjoyed one or more of the events, and offer thanks to all those who organise events, arrange flowers, etc.