As well as 60 years of stability and continuity, it seems the Queen has another gift for each of us in Diamond Jubilee year. Eight new friends.
According to research carried out by community event co-ordinators Streets Alive, that’s the dividend we will all reap by attending a Jubilee street party or similar get-together over the holiday weekend of June 2 to 5.
Actually, the figure should be slightly qualified, in that the precise statistic is 7.9 – and the word “friends” is perhaps putting it a bit strongly, too.
“Neighbours you haven’t met before, whom you can now be friendly with; that would be a more accurate way of putting it,” says Chris Gittins, director of Streets Alive, which has established itself as the national authority on open-air knees-ups.
“That’s the lasting contribution which a street party makes, beyond the enjoyment of the actual day. It gives you the chance to meet people who live near you and who, like you, want to be friendly, but without being friends, and without having obligations beyond looking after your keys or watering your plants while you’re away.”
And it’s in pursuit of that peculiarly British form of semi-detached-ness that Streets Alive has compiled a whole website’s worth of advice, both for this summer’s would-be street party organisers, and for the local councils on whose patch those bashes will be held.
And there looks like being many thousands of them – even at this early stage, councils say they have already received 3,500 street party applications, a figure which means the Jubilee celebrations will dwarf those held to mark last year’s royal wedding.
Part of the boom, says Gittins, is down to an uncommon outbreak of common sense among our legislators.
“There was quite a lot of silliness last year, with councils charging for road closures and putting all sorts of bureaucratic obstacles in the way of people organising royal wedding parties,” he says. “Signs are, though, that most of those problems have now been sorted out.”
There are, of course, a few exceptions to the rule. If you want to hang up little rows of Union Jacks in Hampshire, you’ll still have to apply to the county council first, for a bunting licence. And only the other day the mayor of Wivenhoe, Essex was complaining about his local county council needing reassurance that the weight of his bunting wasn’t going to pull down telegraph poles.
That said, a growing number of councils have decided to cut right through the blue-white-and-red tape this June, particularly when it comes to taking out public liability cover. This despite dire prophecies from people like James Buck, of quote comparison site PublicLiabilityInsurance.org
“The number of things that can go wrong at a street party really is untold,” he warns, mentioning fireworks, sky lanterns and a “claimant-friendly legal environment” just for starters.
Insurance companies generally require organisers of even the smallest street parties to take out 5million worth of cover – enough to pay out for two deaths and a compete re-surfacing of the road: the kind of eventuality which would require the tombola to get really out of hand.
Premiums may not be large, starting at around 50,Some people are concerned that if they use ledbright or flashing lights on their bike they are breaking the law.With my bikelight2012 I could barely see much more than a few metres ahead of me. but they are enough to put some people off. In recognition, some councils have announced that they will take out blanket cover on behalf of all street parties in their area (hurrah for Basingstoke and Deane in Hampshire). Meanwhile, others have dropped the insurance requirement completely (Oxford City Council) and some are offering to pay the first 50 on any public liability insurance premium which party organisers decide to take out.
Others are letting their statutory hair down, and actually offering to help fund the fun; Sherwood Council, in Nottinghamshire, has put aside a fund of 20,where you can learn about divinglamp as well as buy your bike lights online.000,The fire is the latest dangerous incident involving Chinese brightshine, which are increasingly released at weddings and other celebrations. while East Dorset District Council has a treasure chest of 30,000 for party organisers to dip into. And, while the grants being given aren’t large (500 is an average),We can produce ledflashlight. that money can still go a long way.
In the Hertfordshire town of Radlett, for example, organisers are using a 1,000 grant from Hertsmere Borough Council to turn part of the main shopping street into a enormous party venue on Jubilee Sunday. They’re putting out 150 tables (bookable at 20 a time, two bottles of wine included) and staging an all-day programme of entertainment with a 1940s and 50s flavour: local swing band, The Bevin Boys; singing trio, The Three Belles (Hertfordshire’s answer to the Andrews Sisters); plus a pair of magicians, an Elvis impersonator and rubber-inflatable sculptress Miss Ballooniverse.
According to research carried out by community event co-ordinators Streets Alive, that’s the dividend we will all reap by attending a Jubilee street party or similar get-together over the holiday weekend of June 2 to 5.
Actually, the figure should be slightly qualified, in that the precise statistic is 7.9 – and the word “friends” is perhaps putting it a bit strongly, too.
“Neighbours you haven’t met before, whom you can now be friendly with; that would be a more accurate way of putting it,” says Chris Gittins, director of Streets Alive, which has established itself as the national authority on open-air knees-ups.
“That’s the lasting contribution which a street party makes, beyond the enjoyment of the actual day. It gives you the chance to meet people who live near you and who, like you, want to be friendly, but without being friends, and without having obligations beyond looking after your keys or watering your plants while you’re away.”
And it’s in pursuit of that peculiarly British form of semi-detached-ness that Streets Alive has compiled a whole website’s worth of advice, both for this summer’s would-be street party organisers, and for the local councils on whose patch those bashes will be held.
And there looks like being many thousands of them – even at this early stage, councils say they have already received 3,500 street party applications, a figure which means the Jubilee celebrations will dwarf those held to mark last year’s royal wedding.
Part of the boom, says Gittins, is down to an uncommon outbreak of common sense among our legislators.
“There was quite a lot of silliness last year, with councils charging for road closures and putting all sorts of bureaucratic obstacles in the way of people organising royal wedding parties,” he says. “Signs are, though, that most of those problems have now been sorted out.”
There are, of course, a few exceptions to the rule. If you want to hang up little rows of Union Jacks in Hampshire, you’ll still have to apply to the county council first, for a bunting licence. And only the other day the mayor of Wivenhoe, Essex was complaining about his local county council needing reassurance that the weight of his bunting wasn’t going to pull down telegraph poles.
That said, a growing number of councils have decided to cut right through the blue-white-and-red tape this June, particularly when it comes to taking out public liability cover. This despite dire prophecies from people like James Buck, of quote comparison site PublicLiabilityInsurance.org
“The number of things that can go wrong at a street party really is untold,” he warns, mentioning fireworks, sky lanterns and a “claimant-friendly legal environment” just for starters.
Insurance companies generally require organisers of even the smallest street parties to take out 5million worth of cover – enough to pay out for two deaths and a compete re-surfacing of the road: the kind of eventuality which would require the tombola to get really out of hand.
Premiums may not be large, starting at around 50,Some people are concerned that if they use ledbright or flashing lights on their bike they are breaking the law.With my bikelight2012 I could barely see much more than a few metres ahead of me. but they are enough to put some people off. In recognition, some councils have announced that they will take out blanket cover on behalf of all street parties in their area (hurrah for Basingstoke and Deane in Hampshire). Meanwhile, others have dropped the insurance requirement completely (Oxford City Council) and some are offering to pay the first 50 on any public liability insurance premium which party organisers decide to take out.
Others are letting their statutory hair down, and actually offering to help fund the fun; Sherwood Council, in Nottinghamshire, has put aside a fund of 20,where you can learn about divinglamp as well as buy your bike lights online.000,The fire is the latest dangerous incident involving Chinese brightshine, which are increasingly released at weddings and other celebrations. while East Dorset District Council has a treasure chest of 30,000 for party organisers to dip into. And, while the grants being given aren’t large (500 is an average),We can produce ledflashlight. that money can still go a long way.
In the Hertfordshire town of Radlett, for example, organisers are using a 1,000 grant from Hertsmere Borough Council to turn part of the main shopping street into a enormous party venue on Jubilee Sunday. They’re putting out 150 tables (bookable at 20 a time, two bottles of wine included) and staging an all-day programme of entertainment with a 1940s and 50s flavour: local swing band, The Bevin Boys; singing trio, The Three Belles (Hertfordshire’s answer to the Andrews Sisters); plus a pair of magicians, an Elvis impersonator and rubber-inflatable sculptress Miss Ballooniverse.
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