The Golden
Jubilee Beacon at Snow Hill
Windsor, 3rd June
2002
A beacon was lit beside
The Copper Horse at the southern end of The Long Walk at 10.00pm
on Monday 3rd June by The Mayor of Windsor and Maidenhead, Cllr.
Leo Walters. The lighting of beacons on prominent hill tops was
for many years an integral part of the defence system of this
country warning of imminent invasion or other peril. At other
times they were, and continue to be, a sign of celebration.
A bonfire beacon had been
lit here in 1977, on Monday 6 June, by the Queen as part of the
Silver Jubilee celebrations and on that occasion there was an
amusing moment when the high-tech lighting device had not actually
reached the beacon, yet the flames leapt into the air nonetheless.
Apparently the ACTUAL lighting device was triggered by a hidden
operator who misread his queue, lighting the beacon several seconds
before the Queen had completed the ceremonial lighting! The Queen
was delighted apparently, enjoying the glitch!
On that occasion this was the first beacon to be
lit in the country, setting off a chain around the whole of the
UK. Some hours later the last beacon was lit somewhere in Scotland.
The 1977 event in Windsor was accompanied by a fireworks
display, thick with smoke, as I recall, drifting towards the
assembled crowd! This year, as the celebrations continued in The
Mall, Windsorians were already walking up The Long Walk to witness
the lighting of the Windsor beacon and to celebrate with champagne,
and sporting Union flags. The view of the floodlit Round Tower
some three miles distant was worth the walk!
Several hundred other beacons, reportedly as many
as 2000, were lit around the country, as well as overseas in
those countries with close UK ties.
The Royal Windsor Web Site will
report all events such as these and provide a permanent record
together with references to the background of such events wherever
possible.
Any information
or additional material about Windsor is always welcomed and acknowledged.
Copies of photographs or texts
can be emailed to the Editor,
The Royal Windsor Web Site
To contact us, email
Thamesweb.
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