Remembering the Silver Jubilee

As preparations mount for this weekend’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, I was remembering how we celebrated the Silver Jubilee in the heady days of 1977.

I was 12 and living with my family in Buckinghamshire. Rather out of the blue, we received an invitation to a Silver Jubilee Party next door. As a large family of 4 children, it was unusual for us all to be invited somewhere together  – especially somewhere we had never been before.

Next door was always a bit of a curiosity to me. It was a large house set back from the road and shielded by large trees. On the few occasions we had been up to front door, we had caught glimpses of what had seemed to be the height of 1970s glamour – mirrored walls.  Our neighbours were older people whose sons had left home, abandoning a rather wonderful tree house, which we could just see – tantalisingly- from our garden.

“As we had been invited”, my mother insisted we all dressed up in red, blue and white and go along. It turned out to be a country dancing sort of affair. So for a very bizarre couple of hours we were twirled and whirled by complete strangers, presumably from the neighbourhood, whom we never saw or spoke to again.

But we had “celebrated” the Silver Jubilee and were able to confirm accordingly in our Busy Books when we went back to school.  I remember being pretty baffled by the whole thing. Perhaps it will make more sense this time round..