Well- it’s official- we are to be given the day’s holiday to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand it is always good to have a day off- even if you spend it working at home- you can at least do so at your own speed and with long breaks. I realise that a day out of school presents a major headache for some parents who have to juggle child-care arrangements. We are so busy with various projects at the moment that a day off does rather throw a spanner in the works.
However, we now have it and must make the best of it!! I have heard many and varied comments about the Jubilee celebrations. These have ranged from complete apathy to strong negativity to galloping enthusiasm. Many people have mentioned memories of the golden jubilee, the silver jubilee, various royal weddings and even the coronation and the ascent of Everest. You can see from this I have been speaking to some quite old people! Quite a few have very clear memories of street parties, mugs they were given as a gift, where they watched the celebrations and events that happened in their school.
Whatever your views on the Monarchy, this year’s events are probably quite unique, especially coupled with the Olympics, and many of our children will carry these memories into adult life. We are trying to give our children a balanced, insightful view of what is happening- so that they don’t just remember the aisles of red, white and blue questionable souvenirs in the supermarkets. We are exploring the years of the Queen’s reign and looking at significant happenings; comparing then and now (think about how television has evolved); I am sure there will be debates about the Monarchy with the older children; we will explore family trees; and of course we will have some fun along the way making flags and bunting. There will be the community lunch at Humbie and the Saltoun street fayre to enjoy. I hope that we do make this a memorable time for our children and that they will be able to look back on it in future years without shuddering!!
Enjoy the holiday when it comes,
Lindy Lynn
Interesting to hear the varying comments on the Diamond celebrations. Here in USA we have had a fair amount of coverage of the royals. In my dining room here in Florida I have the mug I received in 1953 to celebrate the coronation. My biggest memory of the event is that I, and my classmates from Knox Academy primary department (there was only one school for P1 to 6th year in that far off time) gathered in the Corn Exchange in Haddington to watch a grainy black and white film on a tiny television. It was the first time I saw TV – very exciting. Each class was gathered around one of these tiny TVs. How times change …. and how time flies.