Street parties and other entertainment will be held for those uninterested in jubilee, writes MARK HENNESSEY
IN 1897, Manchester, then a thriving commercial centre of the Empire, held a breakfast party for 100,000 children to celebrate Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee.
Back then, one of its districts, Castlefield, criss-crossed by canals that teemed with business traffic, was home to thousands, most of whom lived in abject poverty.
Today the canals are for pleasure-seekers. In swirling rain yesterday, a brightly coloured canal barge made its way on one of them, the Rochdale Canal, one of the city’s half-hidden treasures.
Meanwhile, people have come back to live in the district that was subject to slum clearance orders in the years after the second World War, during the early part of Elizabeth’s reign.
On Sunday, large numbers of them will gather on Castle Street, which is to be closed to traffic for one of 500 street parties that will take place in the city to mark the regal anniversary.
“We have been surprised by the level of interest in the jubilee. I don’t remember that there was as much attention paid to her silver or golden ones,” said one of the organisers, coincidentally named Carol Middleton. “These are austere times. Perhaps people feel the need to find something to smile about, but there is also a growing respect for the queen as she has got older,” she said.
Manchester was one of the first stops on the queen’s UK-wide tour this year, when thousands gathered for an indoor “garden party” in a conference hall in March.
Earlier that day, she was met with “staggering” crowds in Albert Square: “It was really incredible. Young and old – everybody wanted to see her,” said Middleton.
With the 500 street parties, along with other entertainment for those uninterested in the jubilee, a body representing the city’s pub and clubs says “it’s going to be bigger than New Year”.
“It’s going to bring a much-needed boost to the local economy,” said Phil Burke, spokesman for the Manchester Pub and Club Network.
Like its counterparts elsewhere in the city, Castlefield’s celebrations will be a family affair, with staff from the nearby Museum of Science and Industry ready to offer street experiments to children.
However, the four-day holiday brings its own strains, with extra doctors and nurses scheduled for duty at the Central Manchester and Wythenshawe hospitals.
Some of the expected patients could well suffer sunstroke, if the weather is good, but the hospitals are braced for a injured drunken revellers.
In Castlefield the jubilee is being seen as an opportunity to bind the ties existing between its 2,500-strong community, just as much as it is an occasion to honour the queen.
“We want to mark the jubilee, sure, but we want to do it in a way that doesn’t drive away anyone who is not interested in doing that,” said Middleton.
“But the feelings towards her are genuine.
“I don’t know if we feel the same about Prince Charles – whether people will feel the same about the monarchy. I can’t imagine that they will, really,” she said.