Wokingham Borough Coronation

When a town has the word ‘king’ in its name, it’s residents are bound to celebrate the King’s Coronation in style – and the people of Wo-king-ham certainly did that over the long Bank Holiday weekend.

Despite the typical British weather on Saturday, locals embraced the ‘keep calm and carry on’ slogan and continued with their plans.

The Castle Pub in Hurst partied on Coronation day with a live six-piece band called What The Funk playing sounds from the sixties, seventies and eighties. Landlord Matt Brown, who was also celebrating 10 years at the hostelry, said: “We love running this lovely village pub – such nice people live around here and they always support us. We had a wonderful day celebrating the King’s Coronation.”

There was free entertainment at Barkham Village Hall, with a children’s entertainer, craft table and best crown competition. The day was followed in the evening with a right royal barn dance to round off the festivities.

The Duchess of Wellington lit a coronation beacon on the site of her Wellington Farm Shop in Beech Hill, Wokingham, on the Coronation evening at 7.30 pm.

And Henry Street Garden Centre decorated the entrance with a beautiful coronation floral archway.

The sheep at Lockey’s Farm in Arborfield also got into the spirit of the Coronation, sporting their own royal tribute in the form of Union Jack’s on their wool.

And Bombay Story in Wokingham town centre’s Peach Place hosted their very own street party. There were DJs, Bollywood dancing and street food, celebrating the fact that Wokingham and beyond is a melting pot of different cultures living happily side-by-side.

There was a Coronation Party in the Park at Morgan’s Recreation Ground with a community picnic, live music, competitions, food and craft stalls and beer tent.

Woodley Town Council also hosted a picnic in the park. The event included live music, entertainment, circus skills and free ice cream for the first 300 people. The community turned out in force as Woodley Town Mayor Janet Sartorel officially opened the afternoon’s events by wishing everyone a happy Coronation with a rousing ‘three cheers for our King’.

And at Jackson’s in California Country Park they broadcast the coronation on their big screens at the café while on Monday they hosted their first family BBQ of the summer with music by Crazy Lil Thing and face-painting from Artist Harvest. They also had their own ‘royal’ guests with two princess- es popping in – namely Elsa and Anna from Frozen.

The majority of street parties were held on Sunday and thankfully the weather was much better. Despite a cloudy start in the morning, the sun came out in the afternoon and temperatures reached 20 degrees.

Wokingham Borough Council received applications from 60 roads for official road closures so residents could hold street parties.

The residents of Avalon Road had a meat and a vegetarian barbecue and Liz Kerry said she had made THE Royal quiche which she was very happy with – although they hadn’t tasted it when we called round! Liz added: We all enjoy a street get-together. During lockdown we all got to know each other very well and that community spirit has continued.”

The residents of Lakeside in Earley all got to know each other in lockdown and held a street party for the Royal Jubilee last year. They had plenty of food and drink and some neighbours were planning to play live music later in the day.

For the residents of Bridport Close in Lower Earley, this was their third street party, having celebrated the Jubilee last year and a socially-distance VE Day during Covid. They said with so many different cultures living in their road, they were looking forward to lots of different influences in the food, sampling Chinese and Indian food to name but two.

And in Paddick Drive, they were confident that they had enough food and drink to last them into the evening and were planning dancing and games into the wee hours.

To mark the coronation, staff at the Alexandra Grange Care Home spoke to residents to help them recall their favourite memories of the Royal family. They also enjoyed their own garden party, joined by family and friends for a hog roast and plenty of refreshments.

A new care home was opened last September by HRH The Duke of Kent at the former site of Lord Harris Court in Mole Road, Sindlesham. The new state-of-the-art building was funded by the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution and on Friday, residents enjoyed their own coronation party.

Their sewing group, headed by activity co-ordinator Sharon Fletcher, helped make a Matisse-inspired embroidery using felt and hand-stitching. Weeks of dedicated stitching helped make a creation fit for a king.

The Coronation celebrations were rounded off with a concert just up the road in Windsor on Sunday evening, featuring Lionel Richie, Take That and Andrea Bocelli – the perfect end to a perfect weekend.

Bombay Story host a successful Coronation street party

Wokingham’s Indian Kitchen

Bombay Story hosted a street party for all of Wokingham to attend. The party saw Bombay Story take over part of Peach Place with DJ’s, street food, drinks and Bollywood dancing. People celebrated the Kings Coronation by dancing to sounds from DJ San and Earley DJ Varun. The pair fired up the crowd with a unique mix of Indian and mainstream tunes ‘Bollywood versus Hollywood’

My Wokingham spoke to the person behind Bombay Story Jey Sachchi he explained that event was aimed at getting the community together to celebrate the Kings Coronation

“This is the third event we have or- ganised at Peach Place, the idea is to bring everyone together, and for all to enjoy the food music and atmosphere. It also helps all the businesses nearby.

Street Parties

Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh Court care home Sindlesham, Wokingham

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