St Margaret's At Cliffe Parish Council

Updated 19:48 7th June

We did it!

St Margaret’s Parish Council, with the help of the National Trust, invited local residents and those with a connection to our village to be part of our local Jubilee Celebrations on Thurs 2nd & Sat 4th June, and you came in force.

2nd June: The evening the Jubilee beacons were lit across the country and we had the biggest and best – The South Foreland Lighthouse! It was turned on at 9.45pm and swept across the seas and St Margaret’s until dawn on the 3rd. There was entertainment and refreshments, a chance to meet up with friends and enjoy the special atmosphere.

4th June: The village came together to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee from midday to 10pm on King George Vth Field (cricket). This was a celebration of St Margarets, the community and the people who make it great! The day was fete-like with stalls, entertainment and games from midday – 5pm, Childrens disco & Family Fun 3.30pm Dog Show at 5pm and 2 great bands in the evening. It was cold and very windy but we preserved and had a great day.

The Cricket Club provided a licensed bar and FirstLight the food.

Click Here to See who won what Raffle prizes

This event included Bands, Disco, Stage Shows, Dance and Entertainment, Village awards, local business and local community groups.

We don’t know how many people there were, but it was busy the full 10 hours – and it’s a big field.

A huge thank you to the Police cadets. They helped wherever necessary. They kept us safe by ensuring that cars did not need to go on the field. They helped the stall holders set up, they washed up, they sold raffle tickets – they were just brilliant.

The Scouts (5th Dover), the WI, The Toddler Group, St Margarets’Church, Gardeners Association, Young Buddies, Dementia Café, Tennis Club,Bowls & Social Club, Royal British Legion, St Margarets PTFA, Deal Breastfeeding Group. St Peters Church, the Nursery, National Trust, RNLI Dover smART project, Pegasus, Owl House Stables, History Society, Wednesday Craft Group, St Margarets Bay Conservation Area, Welcome Ukraine participated.

Some local businesses had stalls or banners – mugs & crafts , natural beauty products, dog biscuits. They contributed to the Nursery. Particularly generous one from Angela Andrew.

We had a professional stage, lighting and sound system for the event. On stage The Players gave us a preview of their latest musical, Oklahoma and samg some rousing songs. The nursery and toddlers acted out their nursery rhymes. St Margarets Primary school had a slot , DAPA the dance group had 2 performances – a good half hour each and Ken from DJ Kentastic got the kids dancing with party games, family fun and loads of prizes.

In the arena we had Bootcamp with Dave and his volunteers, followed by old fashioned games – 3 legged race, egg and spoon, tug of war etc which were run by the Scouts. The winners received real jubillee medals.

The 5pm dog show was a roaring success – well done Janice Rosen and Liz and all the pooches and their owners that gave their all. I think there were over 100 dogs!

Whispering Cherry at 6pm started us off in the cold sunshine and they were brilliant. Ratzkins took over at 8pm who had the field dancing until 10pm.

The weather gave us half an hour to tidy up before the thunder and lightning arrived that made sure everybody went home.

Your Parish Council funded this event. Platinum Jubilees don’t happen very often, and this is one for our local history archives.

However, we used the opportunity to fundraise for our community particularly our local nursery. Their current portacabin is needing major and expensive work done for them to be able to continue doing what they do so well. They provide a vital role in our village, for the future generation, and we want to support them. They are a charity, reliant on our help and didn’t they demonstrate their gumption during the pandemic? Currently the Nursery fund rasing is heading towards £4,000 and other originations and charities collected their own.

The Welcome Ukraine stall raised over £100 for us. The new community supporting our established community. A touching gesture.

Thanks to Clive and Tanya Harding for providing the First Aid Cover

If you took some photos of the event, and you are happy to share, please upload them here.

A YouTube video of the Jubilee stage has been uploaded https://youtu.be/RnPTPWtXLPQ With the proper sound now. Its 10 hours long – be warned – choose your chapter.

Ignore the beginning whilst we were fighting with the Mic please. At 14 minutes the Queen keeps her composure despite the wind problem. It gets better with DAPA who are at 30mins & 1hr 30, (although when the children are performing on the ground in front of the stage we cant see them) Players 2 hrs 07, School 2.40, Nursery 3.00, Disco 3.40 (no sound), Awards 5.53, Whispering Cherry 6.10, Raffle 7.30 and Ratzkins 8-10.

We are novices – but we tried and learnt and the village got together and celebrated.