Celebrating the Diamond Jubilee

Very few people have seen a monarch celebrate sixty years on the throne and we should be honoured to experience such an event.

The last time this happened was in 1897 for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

I covered the topic of the Jubilee Celebrations a few weeks ago on my regular column in the printed version of the Bucks Free Press however I feel so strongly on the topic that just for once I would like to continue the debate here on my blog so everyone has a chance to air their feelings.

Back in 1897 Wycombe really went to town with the celebrations and the streets of the town centre were decked out with flags, streamers, bunting and banners.

The culmination of the celebrations was a procession down Wycombe High Street.

Just look at our High Street today. There isn't a single flag on display. Quite honestly its a dreadful disgrace.

Surely some flags could have been purchased or made and hung from the same wires used for the Christmas lights which incidentally are still hanging in some of our streets?

The flags need not have been union jacks as any coloured piece of material could have been used indeed it would have been an excellent project to get the local schools involved with to promote community cohesion and spirit.

The lack of decorations in our town centre on what is one of the biggest days of celebration in recent times just shows the desperate lack of leadership, lack of vision and stagnation that has crippled Wycombe.

Its not like this everywhere though. I have heard reports that flags are on display in West Wycombe High Street and they look most wonderful.

Well done to the people of West Wycombe whose organisation has surpassed that of the powers that be just a few miles away in High Wycombe.

In Regents Street in Central London they have really gone to town with the decorations as you can see from the picture at the top of this blog.

Wouldn't it have been nice if Wycombe High Street looked like the display in Regents Street? Sadly we can only dream of what could have been.

What hope is there for Wycombe if the powers that be can't organise a display to celebrate such a momentous event? Do they not care? Or perhaps is it beyond their capability?

What hope is there of getting Frogmoor back to its former glory?

I think its shameful and damning that modern day Wycombe was unable to put on a display of flags as good as we did in 1897 indeed the lack of decorations is an insult to the Monarch.

While things that would make life better and cheer people up seem too much to accomplish there appears to be no difficulty wasting millions on the town centre Masterplan or the redevelopment of the Handy Cross sports centre.

In years gone by it was tradition to build a chair arch if a VIP or member of the Royal Family visited Wycombe. I wonder if a VIP came to visit us today would we even bother to do that?

As we no longer have a large chair-making industry maybe it would be more appropriate to build the arch from all the To Let and For Sale boards that hang like albatrosses from the buildings in the town centre instead?

What do you think?

*Don't forget to read my regular column in this Friday's edition of the printed version of the Bucks Free Press!

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