Kids kept pinching sweets from her costume and by the time she got to the judges there were hardly any left.
Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation took place when I was just under 3 years old. We lived in Acomb Gardens in the West-end of Newcastle and it joined up with a neighbouring street, Netherby Drive, to organise events for the day and my dad was on the organising committee. Our camera was an old box Brownie camera, which was letting a bit of light in, so the photographs I have are a bit foggy unfortunately, a bit like my memories of the day.
One of the events for children was a fancy dress competition and I have photographs of me dressed as a clown, my eldest sister (aged 7) dressed as a sweet girl and my other sister (aged 5) dressed as Cupid with a little bow and arrow.
My costume was kept for a number of years and I remember it was made from plastic flags, so it must have been a bit uncomfortable to wear. My eldest sister remembers that her costume was made of crepe paper with a coloured top and a white skirt and had sweets stuck all over it. It was raining when it was time to judge the fancy dress and the colour started to run from the top onto the white skirt. Because of the rain the judging took place in someone’s house and the children were lined up to see the judges. The other kids kept pinching sweets from her costume and by the time she got to the judges there were hardly any left.
All of the houses were decorated with bunting and some was attached to poles that carried it from house to house along the street. The picture of me in my clown costume standing on a neighbour’s wall shows a large wooden shield fixed up on the side of their house. We had one on ours as well. It was painted red with gold around the edge and the Queen’s initials in gold in the centre. It hung from the picture rail at the top of our stairs for years afterwards.
My dad was a bus driver and I think he had to go to work on that day, because he missed some of the events he had helped to organise. One of the events he missed was a father and son race. I remember a man asking my mam if I would like to go in the race with him as he didn’t have a son. I think it might have been a 3-legged race, but I’m not sure. We didn’t win, but having a three-year-old child tied to your leg must have been a bit of a handicap. There were other races and a man fell and cut himself and he was taken to our house where my mother, who had been a nurse during the war, bandaged him up.
I have some memorabilia from that time. I and my sisters had a mug each and my mother had a cup and saucer, which I now have. Sadly, the cup and saucer got broken and has been glued back together. My wife, who lived in Whitley Bay then, was school age and was given a fine-china mug from Northumberland Education Authority and still looks really smart. I also have a glass tankard from the street party.
Only one house in the street had a television at the time and lots of people crowded into their house to try to watch the ceremony. It was a big event. All of the adults and older children remembered the hard times of the war and rationing was still in place on some items, so everyone was glad to have a happy event to celebrate. It was great fun and very exciting for a young child.