The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee will be celebrated with a special four-day Bank Holiday in early June. It will be marked at Faversham Recreation Ground on Sunday 5 June, from 2pm to 4pm, when Faversham Mission Brass Band will perform in front of the lodge. This free family event is a contribution towards the UK wide “Big Jubilee Lunch”, so put the date in your diary, bring a picnic, relax on the lawns, and enjoy the afternoon to the sound of brass.

This will be the latest in a line of royal celebrations at the Rec. Perhaps the most spectacular was in March 1863, when upwards of 5,000 people gathered by the lodge to mark the marriage of the Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark. The festivities included artillery volunteers performing a feu de joie (rifles fired in rapid succession, making a loud rat-tat-tat sound), followed by a train running over and detonating 21 fog signals placed to on the nearby tracks to imitate a 21-gun salute.

Crowds also came to the Rec for the Golden Jubilee and Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The Golden Jubilee, held on 20 June 1887, was said to have attracted the largest ever gathering, with thousands of adults and children witnessing athletic sports on a course that had been roped off and steam-rolled for the occasion.

For more information please contact Ben Simon, Activity Coordinator, Swale Borough Council, at 07925 148303 or at favrec@swale.gov.uk