Royal Wedding Celebrations in Hitchin

Lancaster Avenue and Road team up for Hitchin’s Biggest Royal Wedding
Street Party

More than 500 people packed into Lancaster Avenue and Lancaster Road on
Friday to celebrate the Royal Wedding. BBQ’s, bouncy castle, live music
from four different bands, races and hundreds of metres of home sewn
bunting really added to the event which saw neighbours from celebrating
together with family and friends from 12.30pm to 8pm.

On the morning of the party, residents were out in force decorating their
houses - best decorated house awards were chosen by Ruth Neill who has
lived on the street for 40 years and organised the last street party for
Charles and Di's wedding, and she choose No 53 Lancaster Avenue and No 1
Lancaster Road as winners. Pavements were swept and tables and chairs were
set up all along the street, with a communal ‘hub’ where the event was
coordinated from situated where Lancaster Road meets Lancaster Avenue.

“The day went better than I could have possibly imagined!” said
Rebecca Kelly, chair of the Lancaster Avenue / Road street party
organising committee. “The idea to celebrate the Royal Wedding with a
street party initially came back in January when I mentioned that it might
be fun with two of my friends on the street, Marie Gill and Nathalie
Genes. We decided to canvas the rest of the street to get the opinion of
the residents and the response was so positive that it all kicked off from
there. The party really wouldn’t have been such a success without the
support of a fantastic committee comprising of like minded people from the
street and offers of help from residents”

Rebecca continued: “The street party turned out to be a superb way to
celebrate such a great occasion. We were delighted that so many people
came out and enjoyed the day, some of the neighbours on Lancaster Road
have lived there for decades yet it was only the marriage of Prince
William and Kate Middleton that brought them out and got them together. It
was good to be part of the national outpouring of joy that saw all ages
enjoying the novelty of being able to eat, chat and party on the
street.”

Along the road the sounds of the wedding coverage could be heard from
televisions and radios as so many front doors were open. A communal cake
stall, along with a sign up and share point for services to be offered /
requested really added to the community feel as people shared drinks and
food as they got to know those who they have lived alongside.

There were children on scooters, waving flags and having their faces
painted enjoying the car-cleared, traffic free street. The local bands,
who all had some kind of connection to the street, included the Bavarian
Bovines (a German Beer Hall band), Lost Inside, Colours of Insanity and
Unholy Trinity.

The Street Party committee of Lancaster Avenue and Road had organised two
fundraising events to raise money to fund the party - A Frock Swap and
Bring and Buy Sale with car washing. There was also a bunting making
evening and also the local children made their own home made bunting. The
committee kept residents informed by bi-weekly newsletters about the plans
for the party.