Jubilee activity packs now available

Children from Thomas Harding Junior School in Chesham wearing their handmade crowns.

To help communities celebrate HM The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee this year, Buckinghamshire Council has created activity packs filled with ideas and suggestions.

The packs have been sent to all schools and care homes in Buckinghamshire and are also available on the council’s website to download. The council has had a particular focus on supporting The Queen’s Green Canopy tree planting initiative, so some of the activities are based around celebrating veteran trees and our natural environment.

Thomas Harding Junior School in Chesham tried out some of the activities to help with the packs. The year 5s identified veteran trees in the local area and went on a walking trip to view them. They then chose a veteran yew tree to study in more detail which they named PlatiM’am Yewbeliee.

They also made paper crowns and learnt the Commonwealth Song which they performed while wearing their homemade crowns. In addition, the school children wrote letters to care home residents, asking about their memories of past Jubilee celebrations and how they will be marking the occasion this year.

Headteacher Ms Nugent said:

“It was an absolute pleasure to take part in the activities for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Our Year 5 children were really excited to discover more about our Queen. It was so incredible to see their fascination grow as they found out about the high and low points of her long reign. I would say that the highlight of the project was adopting the veteran tree, naming it, and spending time getting to know it and all that it had seen. We now cannot wait to share this work with the rest of the school!”

Peter Strachan, Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment, commented:

“As a council, we are encouraging communities to celebrate HM’s Platinum Jubilee. We hope to see people enjoying street parties and Jubilee lunches with their neighbours, friends and families over the Bank Holiday weekend, and have waived the temporary street closure fee to help with this. The Jubilee activity packs are intended to give some ideas on other ways to celebrate throughout the year.

“These activities should be ones for the books so future generations can look back at how Buckinghamshire celebrated this key milestone of our monarch’s reign.”

The council would love to hear how you are celebrating the Jubilee in Buckinghamshire. If you’d like to share photos and stories with them, you can do so via social media @BucksCouncil or by email PlatinumJubilee-activities@buckinghamshire.gov.uk.

If you are holding a street party or Big Jubilee Lunch, please register your event on the online events directory. The council has waived the road closure fee for when a temporary road closure is requested for a Jubilee street party between Thursday 2 June and Sunday 5 June 2022. For more information visit the council’s Jubilee street party guidance webpage.