Royal Wedding Street Party anyone?

The much loved, even if currently a little forgotten, British

tradition of street parties has a long and colourful history. Street parties as

we know them seem to have started in 1919. They were held in July as 'Peace

Teas' as a genuine celebration of the signing earlier in June of the Versailles

peace treaty after the First World War.

Since then, the most common cause for residents to ‘celebrate

in the street’ has been a Royal occasion. 

The Royal Wedding on 29th April 2011 is the

perfect excuse to bring back street parties and show a new generation of

children what community spirit and a ‘good old knees up’ is really about. 

So what if you want to close down street in Hitchin and

celebrate on the 29th April? What red tape forms, risk assessments

and licences are you going to have fill in and acquire? Answer – NONE!

Amazingly, Hertfordshire County Council’s advice about organising

your own street party is a simple three words “Just do it!”.  Working with central government they have

made it (relatively) easy to organise and have waived all of the normal road

closure charges.  So, after the completion

of just one form you can get on with making the cucumber sandwiches and

bunting. 

To make sure your party fits the criteria of a ‘small street

party’ it needs to be:

For residents/neighbours only

Publicised to residents only

Self-organised

For parties that fit this criteria the Council have advised

that no licence will normally be necessary if music is incidental and no

selling is involved and no formal risk assessment is needed.  You will need to give them 4-6 weeks notice

and that street parties do not include activities that need a licence, such as

selling alcohol or providing certain types of entertainment.

For more information you can look over the guide Hertfordshire County Council have issued or to apply to hold a party, download

the application form here, fill it in, sign and return it. Simples!

If you are having your own street party please let us know

how it goes and share some of the pictures with us.