Diamond Jubilee Celebrations
Sunday 3rd June 2012

The Preparation

In September 2011, the chair of the Parish Council, Jeff Hallett, invited the residents of Pettistree and Loudham to attend a meeting at the Village Hall to enjoy a glass of wine and to discuss how the village could celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The meeting was very well attended and Jeff in his well organised way set about a brain-storming session, putting chalk to blackboard with the ideas that were raised. The board was soon filled with ideas such as, mower racing, decorated scarecrows, largest vegetable competition, cake baking, floats and a fancy dress procession, children’s games, and so the list goes on. It was also suggested that some form of tree planting might take place as well, leaving a remembrance feature for our children.

After a group of 16 volunteers had been appointed to organise the celebrations, it was agreed to hold the village celebrations on one day of the four day event and Sunday 3rd June was chosen.

The committee formed to organise the event was:

Chairpersons	Mary Chilvers and Steve Boardley
Note Taker	Clive Mann
Procession and Float	Amy Nicolls
Games	Dave Caudwell
Coins	Terry Rowles
Songs of Praise	Maggie Hallett
Orchard Planting	Jeff Hallett
Refreshments	Ann Sayer and Ann Rowles
Heritage	Cath Caudwell
Venue Organiser	Roger Chilvers

The meeting closed with homemade sausage rolls and cakes kindly donated by Roger and Mary and another glass or two of wine.

At the following meetings it was agreed the format of the day would be midday brunch at Stump Street, followed by a procession of fancy dress and floats to the village green, where some simple games could take place to involve the children. After this, the event continued to the village hall where cakes where judged for the cake baking competition and then served for tea and cakes. Along the route through the village, residents could place decorated scarecrows that they had made, all adding to the festivity of the day.

To commemorate the day Pettistree embossed Jubilee coins were commissioned. Every child under 16 would receive a coin and the remainder could be sold to help cover the cost of the purchase. Rosettes were also purchased to be given to the winners of the various competitions as a memento of the day. It was felt also a small display on the history of the village would be of interest to people attending, and possibly a Songs of Praise with favourite hymns to be held in the Church and the whole day could conclude with a BBQ at the Greyhound.

The event was advertised in an article in the Pettistree People, a returnable flyer, and posters around the village. The East of England Co-op donated £100 of food vouchers which were secured for use on the day thanks to the prompt action of Clive. Also £100 was kindly donated by Woods Nurseries of Pettistree.

All the planning had now been put in place, what we needed next was a good day and lots of support to make the occasion memorable.

Post event notes:

Special thanks to Peggy Cole and Neil Moss for judging the cake baking competition and Richard and Sandra Saunders for judging the scarecrows and fancy dress.

Also a big thank you to all the other volunteers who helped on the day.

Some commemorative coins are still available from Terry Rowles.

The tree planting is scheduled to take place on Saturday 17th November 2012.

Steven Boardley

The Day June 3rd 2012

The Pettistree Diamond Jubilee celebrations were held on Sunday June 3rd and the first event was a lunch party in Stump Street by Cooper’s Cottage. The day dawned grey, wet and very cold but, with commendable foresight, Roger had cleared his barn for just such an eventuality. Mary had agreed to organise the food with help from many in the village and when they made their deliveries, they found the barn wonderfully decorated with bunting, flags, balloons and union jack cloths on the trestle tables. The whole place looked sensational – quite “Jubilant” in fact! Roger, Mary and Peter had done a wonderful job in making it look so festive.

The lunch started at noon and very soon there must have been around a hundred people tucking in to the amazing array of food and drink. On top of all this, Roger was braving the cold and rain outside, running a barbecue supplying burgers and hot dogs.

After lunch, an area was cleared on one side of the barn to allow the children’s games, originally scheduled to take place on the green, to be held undercover. Many of the children were in fancy dress and had their faces painted – they all enjoyed that part!

The next part of the celebrations was tea in the village hall but before that, many wandered around the village, taking photos of the many scarecrows decorating the village. A lot of imagination, time and trouble had been used to create them and they greatly added to the spirit of the occasion. The judges had an unenviable task in deciding on a winner but eventually the prize went to a very grand old boy sitting in a magnificent carriage outside Saska and John’s house.

Chris & Pat Cook

Amongst the other events organised for the Jubilee Celebrations at Pettistree with Loudham, it was decided to have a cake competition for adults and a decorated cup cake competition for the children of the village. On the wet Sunday 3rd June while plan B operations were taking place for the lunch, we made haste to get the entries logged for the competition and set up for the afternoon teas. At 10.30 am the entries started to come in and we were pleased to see the superb entries 12 adult cakes and 13 entries for the children’s section and an enormous amount of cakes donated for the afternoon tea. After a splendid lunch we took our judges Peggy Cole and Neil Moss our local resident baker to the village hall and witnessed their very pro- fessional approach to judging. It was Neil’s first time of doing the job but with Peggy’s experience and his enthusiasm they soon had it sort- ed. The first prize for the adult section went to a young Miss Beagley who as Mrs Cole said had made not only the best decorated cake but a won- derful sponge base. The first prize for the decorated cup cakes went to the children of the Presmere Day Nursery who had presented a delightful tray of cakes.

At 2.30 pm visitors to the Heritage exhibition were eyeing up the cakes for tea and at three due to popular demand (despite a very bountiful lunch) tea, coffee and cakes were being consumed with enthusiasm. A very enjoyable part of an excellent day which was not marred by the weather

Ann Sayer

Jubilee Songs of Praise & Barbecue

Twenty three people from the village and congregation had sent in their choices, seventy one different hymns altogether. All the data was entered into a spreadsheet and two of us put together the programme. “Praise my soul” was the runaway favourite with seven people voting for it, closely followed by “Dear Lord and Father of Man- kind”. Eleven hymns were chosen, with almost everyone who sent in their favourite hymns having at least one included.

More than sixty people came to the church on a very wet afternoon. The vicar presented the service and had researched interesting facts about the hymns which gave the singers a chance to draw breath, recover and be ready to sing again. It also gave a little time for Rita to stretch her fingers and get prepared for the next item.

le service was rounded off with two verses of “The National Anthem”, after which the congregation retired to the Greyhound for a barbecue. This was not without hitches, the weather confining us to indoors and running out of barbecue fuel meant cooking inside too. However it provided a lovely end to a wonderful village day, relaxing (for most of us) and sociable.

Mary Garner