The rain couldn’t dampen spirits when the villages celebrated the Queen’s 90th birthday with a series of events over the weekend of 11 & 12 June. Here, Maureen Hicks reflects on the weekend’s events:

I WAS SAD … when:

• The weather prevented us from holding our celebration service out of doors
• The weather prevented us from holding our Street Party in Acre Ditch

But, I WAS GLAD … when:

• We formed a Steering Group for a village party to celebrate the Queen’s special birthday
• Cherwell District Council, Sibford Gower and Ferris Parish Councils and the Town Estate Charity agreed to support our programme with some grant funding
• Worcester College Chapel Choir agreed to sing for us – how their wonderful singing lifted our spirits to match the soaring heights of their voices especially in Hubert Parry’s ‘I was glad …’
• So many joined us for our Service of Celebration
• The sun came out for our family fun and activities on the field
• We managed to sit everyone down to tea – undercover! – and then the heavens opened
• We had so many offers of help with so many different jobs to make the party happen
• We saw so many happy faces joining together in our village-style celebration
• So many people just joined in with all the clearing up

Thank you to all who continued Sibford’s tradition of celebrating Royal occasions in style. A few commemorative mugs are still available – £2.50 on a first come, first served basis.

Maureen Hicks

Thank you – As a member of the steering committee for the Queen’s 90th birthday, I would like to thank all who helped with the catering, making sandwiches (30 loaves of bread), and also to Diana Thompson and all who made cakes and helped with tea with a good community spirit, hopefully enjoyed by all.

Gilian Soden