Janna Sanders, manager of Tavistock BID, said: ‘We are all absolutely thrilled that we have managed to achieve funding for the town’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. We can now be certain that locals and visitors alike will have a very special day to remember.
‘With this funding, we can ensure all events are free, meaning that everyone can be part of the day.
‘We are extremely lucky to have been awarded £7,722.10 from the Arts Council’s ‘Let’s Create Jubilee Fund’ – just one of 16 successful applications out of 90 in total. The day will very much be a community event, with the involvement of local artists and community groups.’
Tavistock is receiving £7,722.10 from the Arts Council’s Let’s Create Jubilee Fund through Devon Communities Together.
The funding, from the National Lottery, is aimed at staging creative events to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee, supporting 44 community projects across the country, Tavistock included. In Tavistock, the grant has gone into the pot with money already pledged from Tavistock BID (£5,000), Tavistock Town Council (£5,000, in funding and in venue provision) and the European Regional Development Fund (£2,499).
Janna added: ‘A number of partners have also come together to make this happen – Tavistock BID, Tavistock Chamber of Commerce, Tavistock Town Council, Tavistock Lions Club, Miss Ivy Events, West Devon Art Workshops and Just Sewn Stories. We are really lucky to have such a strong community in Tavistock.’
The special four-day bank holiday weekend will kick off with the Jubilee Gala Day throughout town on Thursday, June 2, beginning with the ‘River of Hope’ pageant featuring children from 10 local schools carrying flags designed on the Platinum Jubilee theme of the natural world and hopes for the future. The flags will be paraded through town and then installed in St Eustachius churchyard for the weekend.
And throughout town, there will be nostalgia zones to celebrate earlier decades of the Queen’s reign: a 1950s beach scene in the Guildhall car park with striped deckchairs, ice cream and Punch & Judy; cream teas and live performances on Bedford Square with jiving to sounds from the 1950s to the 1970s; a KidsZone in St Eustachius’ churchyard with traditional games for all the family, a magical bubble-show and face-painting; a Carnaby Street scene in Bank Square car park with a resident disc-jockey waiting to play favourite vinyls.
In the town hall, there will be a tea dance with a twist staged by Plymouth Dance, on hand to lead people through the dance steps as they glide across the floor to the sounds of a bygone age. And in the evening, Tavistock Town Council invites the local community to join them for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Beacon Ceremony.
There is a longstanding tradition in this country of celebrating royal jubilees, weddings and coronations by lighting beacons, and so the beacon will be lit at 9.45pm, near what locals refer to fondly as ‘The Pimple’ on Whitchurch Down.
The beacon was last lit on Whitchurch Down as part of a chain of 1,000 beacons for Her Majesty’s 90th birthday in 2016.
On June 2, Tavistock will be joining communities across the Commonwealth with one of more than 1,500 beacons across the world.
The weekend will continue with television coverage of the events in London in the Guildhall Gateway Centre as well as vintage films on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Sunday will see the much-loved Robey Trust Steam Fair returning to Bedford car park and Tavistock Lions will be taking part in the Jubilee celebrations with their ‘Jubilee Picnic In The Park’. These celebrations, celebrating Her Majesty the Queen’s 70th year as the UK’s monarch and Head of the Commonwealth, mark a unique milestone and one which no previous monarch has achieved before.
All events are free to take part but the tea dance and evening films will be ticketed sessions.
For more information, go to www.visit-tavistock.co.uk/jubilee