Jubilee Pagaent and festival plans revealed

The organisers of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant have revealed major details of the 1,000-boat flotilla that will mark the Queen’s 60 years of reign. The Pageant will take place on Sunday, June 3 and will travel from Putney to Tower Bridge. The flotilla itself will be over seven miles long, will include some 25 miles of Thames river bank and will pass under 14 bridges, taking 90 minutes to pass any given point.

Sainsburys has been named as a major corporate sponsor and plans have also been revealed for a Battersea Park Jubilee Festival, from which visitors will be ale to watch the flotilla as it passes by the park’s northern Thameside.

The festival will feature Jubilee-themed entertainment, curated by Hemingway Design and Clare Patey, and comprise a day-long programme of funfair, competitions, games, food and cookery, storytelling, fashion, and live music through the decades.

The park will be divided into zones to include:

• A 1952 bandstand tea dance with live “big bands” swing, jive and lindyhop open dance classes, 1952 themed bars and the food flavours of Coronation Year
• A main stage with live music and iconic artists spanning the six decades of The Queen’s reign.
• A tea-garden, staffed by the Women’s Institute and featuring a record-breaking attempt for the tallest cake.
• A portrait of the Queen made of 3,120 cakes, one for each week of her reign.
• Carter’s Steam Fair, a collection of vintage fairground rides, carousels, swing boats and dodgems.
• A themed festival market with food and drink celebrating all things British as well as food and drink from across the Commonwealth.