Celebrate The Queen's Platinum Jubilee in Swale

Although the anniversary of the Queen’s coronation falls on 6 February the official celebrations always take place at the start of June.  The Queen is the first British monarch to reach the milestone – 70 years since the coronation - having already celebrated her silver, gold and diamond jubilees.

Key celebrations are focused and encouraged around a four-day period from Thursday 2 June to Sunday 5 June 2022; the May Bank Holiday Weekend is to be moved to 2 June with an additional Bank Holiday on Friday 3 June to create a four-day weekend to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee. 

The four-day Bank Holiday to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee does not preclude other activities in-year to take account of individual community programmes and priorities.  Across the country individuals and community groups are encouraged to take part through a range of community-led activities, projects and events.  In particular, there is opportunity for Town and Parish Councils to play a key role in encouraging or leading those local interests with supporting information and guidelines which will be made available through various websites as we move closer to the Platinum Jubilee.

Prince Charles has urged people to plant a sapling to celebrate the 70-year reign dubbing it a ‘treebilee’.  In Swale there are the obvious linkages to be made with the 'Swale Climate Change and Ecological Emergency Action Plan' where tree planting is already a key action but which could be promoted as a Council and community response too in response to the Platinum Jubilee. 

Thursday 2 June

The Queen will attend the Trooping the Colour – 1,400 parading soldiers, 200 horses and 400 musicians will gather at Buckingham Palace and proceed down The Mall to Horse Guard’s Parade joined by Members of the Royal Family on horseback and in carriages. The event will be closed by a RAF fly-past, which will be watched by The Queen and other royals from the Palace balcony.

The United Kingdom’s long tradition of celebrating Royal Jubilees, Weddings and Coronations with the lighting of beacons will be continued to mark the Platinum Jubilee. Councils are being encouraged to join in the celebrations by lighting existing permanent or temporary beacons at 9.15pm on 2 June 2022. For more go to The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Beacons guide.

Note: Swale Town and Parish Councils - If your council is able to take part, please go to page 11 of the guide and provide the Queen’s Jubilee Beacons team with the information requested. We hope the lighting of beacons across the country and beyond will be celebration to remember on this historic occasion. If you have any queries, please contact the Queen’s Pageantmaster, Bruno Peek LVO OBE OPR at brunopeek@mac.com on 07737 262 913, or visit the Platinum Jubilee Beacons website.

Friday 3 June

A ‘Service of Thanksgiving’ for the Queen’s reign will be held at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London

Saturday 4 June

The Queen and members of the Royal Family will attend the Derby a Epsom Downs

A special concert will be held at Buckingham Palace that promises to “bring together some of the world’s biggest entertainment starts” – attendance will be via public ballot

Sunday 5 June – The Big Jubilee Lunch and the Platinum Jubilee Pageant

Swale Communities are encouraged to share “friendship, food and fun” with neighbours by holding street parties, picnics or BBQ’s as part of the Jubilee celebrations ahead of the final event of the weekend, the Platinum Jubilee Pageant. The Big Lunch provides tips and ideas for hosting an event, further guidance below.

A pageant featuring more than 5,000 people from across the UK and Commonwealth will take place against the backdrop of Buckingham Palace and the surrounding streets, combining street arts, theatre, music, circus, carnival and costume.

Further details on the programme of events in 2022 and how members of the public can get involved are expected to be released in the months ahead.

Organisations planning events in the Swale area are encouraged to look to Swale Borough Council's website for event guidance, and share details if the events are open to the wider public and visitors to the area with Visit Swale either by email to: tourismsupport@swale.gov.uk or submit event details with images online.

More Guidance and Inspiration on How To Get Involved in The Queen's Platinum Jubilee - The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)

To support preparations, DCMS has highlighted some of the opportunities for councils and communities to engage with the Platinum Jubilee which are listed below:

• Street Parties and ‘The Big Jubilee Lunch’
o Street parties should be encouraged, and you can play an important role in supporting residents who want to organise parties for their neighbours. For example, relaxing road closure rules to enable street parties to take place as easily as possible will be important. Updated street parties' guidance on how to organise a street party can be found here.

• The Big Jubilee Lunch – 2 to 5 June 2022
o The Big Jubilee Lunch encourages communities to come together, celebrate their connections and get to know each other a little bit better and will bring the Jubilee celebrations into the heart of every community. More details can be found here.

• Beacon Lighting
o In keeping with the long tradition of celebrating Royal Jubilees, Weddings and Coronations, councils are encouraged to light beacons across the UK in the evening of 2 June 2022. Should you wish to take part, more information can be found in the specific Beacons website which can be found here.

• Platinum Jubilee Events/projects organised by Local Authority-owned civic amenities
o Libraries, museums, leisure centres, heritage sites etc are welcome to host their own individual events and projects to mark the Platinum Jubilee. For example, this could include exhibitions, concerts or special talks.

• The Platinum Jubilee Emblem
o The official Platinum Jubilee Emblem is available for use for all activities associated with the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, including community and national events. It is free to download from the Royal website, where detailed usage guidance can also be found.

• The Queen’s Green Canopy
o Everyone from individuals to community groups, villages, cities, counties, schools and corporations are encouraged to plant a tree for the Jubilee. The initiative runs from October 2021, when the tree planting season began, through to the end of the Jubilee year in 2022. More details can be found here.

• City Status Competition
o The Civic Honours competition launched on 8 June. These rare awards will grant winning towns and cities ‘city status’ and ‘Lord Mayor or Provost status’. More details can be found here.

• Local pageants

o Further guidance on how to host a local pageant will be available early in 2022.

• Broadcast the TV feed.
o The use of local large screens in public places to show TV coverage of the Jubilee, which could include The Platinum Party at the Palace. These screenings could be complemented or enhanced by being a part of a wider event.

• Council led events
o Councils are welcome to organise and facilitate large scale Platinum Jubilee events and celebrations of their own choosing within their towns and cities, which could include their own civic occasion, for example, follow Faversham Town Council's dedicated Facebook page for Faversham Platinum Jubilee news and events.

Swale Borough Council Grant Funding For The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Celebrations

Swale Borough Council has provided financial grant support to communities, local groups and organisations to celebrate The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.  The council made available £25,000 available for Platinum Jubilee grants with awards of up to £1,000 to Swale community and voluntary organisations. The grant scheme proved extremely popular with grant requests received to the value of over £30,000. The Council is looking to divert some of the unallocated community grant funding to meet the additional demand and has now closed 'The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Grant Scheme' to new applications.

Whilst key celebrations will focus on the four-day holiday from Thursday 2 June to Sunday 5 June 2022 there is opportunity throughout the year to promote and celebrate your own community activities and projects.  If you want to find out what might already be happening on your patch, then contact your local Town or Parish Council and get involved!

Arts Council England - Let’s Create Jubilee Fund

The Let’s Create Jubilee Fund will support voluntary and community groups to develop creative and cultural activities as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022. The fund is open to voluntary and community organisations with charitable aims towards a common goal which does not have to be based around arts and culture. However, the application itself has to be focused on creative and cultural activity. The fund will support new creative and cultural activities developed for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June 2022.  Culture and creativity come in all shapes and sizes, so we do not want to be too prescriptive about what form projects could take; it’s more important for you to consider how to deliver creative and cultural activity that your local communities will want to take part in, and to find a partner who can help you deliver it.

Grants will be available from £750 to £10,000. ACE can part fund a project if the overall cost is more than you are applying for. Opens for applications: Tuesday 4th January 2022 - Closes: midday on 14th February 2022. Decisions: by Friday 1st April 2022.

Project: Your project can begin from 1st April 2022.  Public-facing activity should take place in June on or near the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Weekend. The project end date should be no later than August to include any evaluation and final payments. You can find out more here

• National Lottery Funding
o More than £22 million of National Lottery funding has been made available to help communities across the country come together to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee. (Applications closed December 15th 2021)

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have launched a Platinum Jubilee website which includes useful related resources. The website includes an interactive map, for people and organisations to contribute to and others to search for information on activities taking place near to them. Please explore the website and submit events and activities to be included on the map, which can be found here.

Useful Links

Apply for a free Street Party Road Closure by March 31st from Kent County Council here

https://www.royal.uk/platinum-jubilee-central-weekend

https://platinumjubilee.gov.uk/

https://platinumjubilee.gov.uk/event-submission/

https://www.streetparty.org.uk/