Ringers will know that Her Majesty will be 90 on Thursday 21 April 2016. There will doubtless be much ringing that day. The Palace has announced that the main celebrations will be held over the weekend of 10-12 June, to coincide with her annual Official Birthday. On Friday 10 June there will be a special service at St Paul’s Cathedral. On Saturday 11 June there will be the Trooping the Colour ceremony and on Sunday 12 June there is to be “the Patron’s Lunch” along the Mall, celebrating Her Majesty’s patronage of over 600 organisations in the UK and around the Commonwealth since 1952. It is hoped that there will also be many other street parties in the UK and elsewhere at the same time.
Ringing is likely to be very appropriate at almost any time everywhere over that weekend, especially if it fits in with any local celebrations planned. But the Palace has agreed that special ringing should take place at lunchtime on the Sunday, to coincide with the “Patron’s Lunch“, particularly as this would be an unusual time for ringing in many towers. Ringers are therefore encouraged to arrange special ringing at some point between 12 noon and 2 pm that day and to let local media and residents know why you are ringing. The PR Committee will also be working to raise media awareness nationally.
We have been permitted to use the Patron’s Lunch logo, shown below. Use it in your publicity! It’s already incorporated in the event posters available for you to download and complete with your local details.
Please see selections of compositions of 1290 and 5090 of appropriate methods.
