Royal Wedding: No street partying like it’s 1981
Tuesday 1st February 2011, 3:16PM GMT.
Shropshire has turned its back on staging major street parties to celebrate the Royal Wedding in April.
Little interest has been shown in holding parties to mark the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Shropshire Council has received just four applications for closures on April 29 and has had to ask for further information on each one before they can be properly considered.
It will not charge for closures while Telford & Wrekin Council – which will charge a £25 fee – has had a “few initial inquiries” but no firm applications for closures.
In 1977 about 10 million people across the country attended street parties to mark the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, with similar numbers celebrating the 1981 wedding of Charles and Diana.
Event organisers only have until the end of this week to apply for the necessary permission to close roads to traffic.
Today Shrewsbury Mayor, Kathleen Owen, said it was “very disappointing” that more people hadn’t applied.
“Prince William is absolutely adored and Kate is well liked too,” said Councillor Owen.
She said street parties were a “real English tradition” and helped to bring the community together.
Anyone planning to hold a party on the road — including the pavement — needs to obtain a Road Closure Notice and Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council need at least 12 weeks notification for the legal process.
Adrian Lawrence, Telford & Wrekin Council cabinet member for environment, said: “The impending Royal Wedding is a great opportunity for people to get together and celebrate in a truly traditional British way.
“A street party is lots of fun for all ages and has for a century been linked with royal and other national events.”
But he warned: “Contact us as soon as possible to see if you need any special permissions and particularly if you are hoping to close your street to traffic.
“You only have until February 4 to apply for a street closure.”
Martin Stevens, clerk to the Shropshire Lieutenancy which represents the Queen in the county, said he expected smaller-scale local parties to be held in venues such as village halls but as yet it was still “early days.”
He said the focus of the lieutenancy was on the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June next year when a number of major, centrally co-ordinated events, would be held across Shropshire.
By Dave Morris
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Oh dear, what will the royal correspondant have to write about other than what the dress looks like and comparing the event to previous ones? No more trite ramblings.
Seems there is a god after all!
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Not really a surprise is it?
What with the uncertain times everyone faces at present, people have got far more important things to worry about, I suppose.
Perhaps there will be a late surge of interest nearer the time. Then again….
Incidentally, it’s good to see our illustrious councils trying to justify themselves again by being ready to ‘consider applications’ for street closures!
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You know I feel like having a street party to celebrate the fact that little interest has been shown in having street parties to mark the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
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We have had a communications and information explosion since 1981 and the majority of people would find having their noses rubbed with such opulence abhorrent given the current domestic financial meltdown, with the country just about ticking over whilst running on empty.
There maybe a party going on in Westminster that day, but outside of the M25 I don’t think anyone really cares.
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I wish W C all the best, but keep it a quite affair after all some of us are loosing our jobs through no fault of our own, some no pay rise, some shorter working week, we all are suffering a huge tax and cost of living rise.
What have we got to celebrate.. oh! I forgot we voted this government and council in and now we pay the price…yes I am bitter because it was the bankers fault and we are all paying for it but never mind… they are still getting their bonuses so that’s OK…enough to cover the deficit…. something wrong somewhere.
I would sooner pay more tax in the short term and keep my job and support my family rather than loose my job; but we weren’t even given the choice.
You can’t seriously vote this council or this government back in again.
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Escaped to the wilds of Scotland for 1981 to avoid that pretentious event, I shall studiously avoid the next two happening in England & Scotland this year.
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I spent most of the day in a traffic jam on the M6 because Keele services was on fire….loads better than being stuck in front of the telly.
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Somewhat of a non-event it seems, a bit like when Charles married whatshername. Maybe folk are waking up to the fact that the royals are an outdated, unnecessary institution. The countries that manage without a royal family do very nicely thank you.
Time to get rid? Oh no, I forgot, poor Shirley would be out of a job then.
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£25 charge to close a road to celebrate the wedding which will cost us a fortune to support one of the richest familys in the country. Welcome to rip off Britain.
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Funny when you consider the council held a £15,000 party for staff and councillors at our expense to mark the end of SABC.
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Street parties are very chav.
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£200 was the cost, I understtood back at the millienium to close a road.
Can I come to your party Nistagamus?
I’ll invite all the young disenfranchised youth in Shrewsbury and we can turn it into a protest without the police sending an armoured vehicle as they did before Xmas to SSFC,presumably to quell the frozen group of about ten 6th formers braving the freezing temperatures.
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I’ve given up on the idea. Too chavvy I’ve been advised. But I’m up for a bit of rioting. We can have jelly , but only after we’ve stormed the castle.
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“Prince William is absolutely adored and Kate is well liked too,” said Councillor Owen.
Really? Says who?
Watch out Shirley – she’s after your job as First High Sycophant in Waiting!
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Er…says Councillor Owen… Duh!
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I for one will be raising a glass to the balding Prince for batting well above his average. Cheers Your Highness, fair play.
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Sssshhhhhh, word to the wise. You don’t want to be making comedy references towards the Royals. You’ll get the Shirlster on your case.
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Thankfully i saw the light and booked flights out here for that week, Zero interest.
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Maybe it’s because most neighbourhoods aren’t regimented and organised. If they want a party they’ll have one regardless of any council application and most likely at the last minute.
What happened to spotinaiety?
Is there really going to be a Street Party Inspector going around asking to see a Proof of Party or other such ridiculousness?
Like the Royal couple or not, it’s still a great excuse for a party and to renforce neighbourly relationships.
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“Regimented and organised” You may have a point but around 1981 Margaret Thatcher and that sidekick Tebbit were ploughing their wrecking ball through cohesive communities crying “Get on your bike”
So most of us did. Now I think you will find that many don’t even say good-morning to their next door neighbours let alone know their names or wish to party with them.
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Don’t you think people hanker after that sense of togetherness, Mike?
I think Pete is right.
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Im sure they do Huw, after-all they were my formative teenage years but just as Cameron is not going to put the clock back 30 years and create the big society he may also remember, over night. I am not going to be 15 again, not for all the hankering in the world. I am not saying I like it, any more than the next, but times have moved on. If you want to know how passionate the population are regarding the ruling elite right now It might pay for you to glance at the front page of a broadsheet today.
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Times have certainly moved on, mike, and No, the ‘ruling elite’ are not popular, but Pete was surely just making the simple point, which I fully endorse, that this wedding is a great excuse for a party and could potentially bring neighbours closer together.
Far more unites people than divides them, and I remember the Silver Jubilee street parties with great fondness.
If you want to talk about ruling elites, what do you think the Egyptian ruling elite think of people coming together innthe streets?
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I think you are both right, though It is just not for everyone. As for your last paragraph, I think it is fantastic. Providing the British-American coalition don’t shove their noses in and Mubarak doesn’t run off with all the gold as happened in Tunisia then the people of Egypt will work it out for themselves.
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Most humble apologies Huw, I completely misread that last night. I will try again.
Not exactly a street party to celebrate Mubarak’s inauguration is it?
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The Royals are so out of touch with the ordinary person in the street that nobody really gives a damn about this forthcoming wedding.People have far greater worries on their minds like how will they make ends meet,how much longer will they have a job? etc. In the Royal Household they don’t know the meaning of the word “Recession”.
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I wave a large fat and confused Groundhog in this marriages general direction
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I am happy they are in love and getting married.
But please dont force this on the rest of us – who really cares?
Royalty in this country died with Diana.
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I see all this Tory spin for what it is, spin.
As previously said, Mrs Thatcher did nothing for women, nothing for the concept of family life and heralded in the American inspired litigateous, dog eat dog world we now inhabit.
Time is money she espoused, market forces rule she was her driving ethos.
‘Victorian values’ stated Major, later whatever that was supposed to mean being as the Victorians did not have a reputation for a social conscience or moral behaviour. All that mattered in their day was how things appeared on the surface.
My 89 yr old father tripped over a mat going into Nettos this week. He was assisted by other customers on their way out but no one in the store approached him to see if he was ok. On his way out the offending mat had been removed so it had all been seen on CCTV!
Several years ago I went pony trekking in Wales and was thrown from the horse. I landed in the same position, like in a Thelwell cartoon only not so amusing as the base of my spine hit the ground hard. Did anyone speak/ apologise,comfort me,except my family looking down white faced and horrified? They tried their best to get me to get back on the horse but I could hardly walk. Back at the farm everyone was silent and shifty – eyed and my other half had to ask for some painkillers for our journey back.
In the war my father flew with the son of a baronet and there was a real sense of togetherness. It left behind,to a degree, a feeling of equality that anyone with ability could go to university and get into a profession. Today that is disappearing fast, especially it seems, if you live in England. Big Society? No Divided Society.
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I read this post three times just to make sure I didn’t miss the bit about “royal wedding” and “street parties”.
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This is starting to get on my nerves now. Everywhere i look its all about the marrage. And they even have there own magazine. Seriously! So what there getting married, its not a big deal. Millions of other people do it and dont bring out magazines/advertise it everywhere do they. Just pathetic!
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I believe the Middletons are cashing in by flogging a few party poppers. They must have picked up the Katie Price book of etiquette by mistake rather than Debrett’s
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