UK preparing for Queen’s platinum jubilee with thousands of events
The UK is preparing to celebrate the platinum jubilee weekend in style, with 1,458 public events and 1,775 street parties or private events officially registered to take place from 2 to 5 June.
The celebrations are spread out across the country, with 240 in and around London, 208 around Manchester, 133 near Birmingham, 98 in Scotland – including four in the Orkneys and one on the Isle of Lewis – 21 in Northern Ireland and two in Guernsey.
But the royal family’s platinum jubilee website is calling for more people to get involved. “There are lots of ways you can take part in the Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations, whether you are a local authority, school, business, community group, or want to get involved yourself,” said a spokesperson for the site, which is offering a Toolkit To Plan Your Jubilee. It includes free photographs of the queen, children’s games, recipes and a free-to-download platinum playlist that includes Ed Sheeran, the Spice Girls, Kylie Minogue and Elton John.
“The special extended bank holiday weekend will provide an opportunity for communities and people throughout the United Kingdom to come together to celebrate the historic milestone,” they added.
The country will spend a total of £823m celebrating the bank holiday weekend, spending an average of £83 each on food, drink and union flag-inspired decorations, according to MoneySupermarket.com. That is almost three-quarters more than the £480m that 34% of Britons said they planned to spend celebrating the royal wedding in 2018.
Waitrose has reported sales of Pimm’s are up by more than 260% on last year, while searches for “jubilee” are up 176% on their website in the past two weeks. Searches for platinum jubilee food and drink are up 114% and garden party
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