Communities across Northern Ireland will participate in the Royal Jubilee festivities, with some of the larger gatherings centred on Belfast. There will be a continental market at the City Hall. The city will host more than 100 street gatherings but public events are also planned for many smaller town and villages. They include the following:
FRIDAY
Coleraine, Co Derry: Diamond Jubilee street party at Castleroe Primary School.
Carrickfergus, Co Antrim: Fireworks display at 10.40pm at Edward Pier (weather permitting).
SATURDAY
At Grove Park in north Belfast, up to 700 people will take part in what organisers hope will be the North’s largest street party to celebrate the Jubilee.
Between noon and 6.30pm, revellers can enjoy a dog show, a street dance routine by the area’s youth dance group, a football tournament and street entertainment. The DUP MEP Diane Dodds will also open the Friends of Grove Park Community Garden.
Bangor, the seaside town in north Co Down, is having a 1950s themed weekend. At 12 noon at the seafront, HMS Bangor will sail past, accompanied by a flotilla of vessels from local yacht clubs. Between 10am and 6pm, there will be a variety of activities, including climbing walls, shooting range, displays of military vehicles and equipment and a static Royal Navy Helicopter.
Hillsborough, Co Down: Fort Event: Saturday, June 2nd. The band of the Royal Irish Regiment makes it way at 11.15am from Hillsborough Castle prior to a concert – followed by a 21-gun royal salute and a parachute display. Ticket event, sold out.
However, visitors to the historic village of Hillsborough will be able to enjoy the music of the band in a pre-concert public performance at the rear of the fort. This will be followed by a 21-gun royal salute at noon, carried out by the royal artillery, a flypast and a parachute display.
SUNDAY
In Belfast, coverage of The Big Lunch all over the UK will begin at 11.00am. Live BBC coverage of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant will be shown on a screen in Donegall Square.
In the afternoon, Belfast’s Lord Mayor, Gavin Robinson, will host people celebrating 60th birthdays and wedding anniversaries at a special tea party in the City Hall.
Bangor: The official Olympic torch for the 2012 Olympic Games in London will pass through North Down, passing Holywood at around 6.30am and Bangor at 7am. The HMS Bangor will be moored and open to the public from 10am to 6pm; during this time, the armed forces’ wall climbing and shooting range activities will also take place as will displays of military vehicles and equipment and a static royal navy helicopter on Eisenhower Pier.
At the town hall and live on stage, from 12 noon to 6pm, there will be The Big Jubilee picnic lunch, as well the cars of yesteryear, a vintage fair, a ‘Cartoon Wonderland’ with Noddy, Alice in Wonderland, Bill and Ben and other ’50s childhood heroes, giant games, entertainers and a children’s tea party. There will be the sounds of the ’50s from the Jacqui Dankworth Band, AJ Brown and the Swingshift Big Band, the Ulster Youth Jazz Orchestra and the supreme Ulster Orchestra.
At 6pm, there will be a jubilee parade and Sunday and Monday’s events will conclude at the town hall with a 3D Projection Spectacular at 10.30pm.
Carrickfergus: The Big Jubilee Picnic, plus family entertainment, will also take place in the town’s Shaftesbury Park from 12.30pm - 4.00pm.
MONDAY:
Belfast City Hall Jubilee carnival with fashion shows, screenings of archive film footage, craft sessions, music, dance, children’s entertainment and a novelty photo booth.
Bangor: 1950s themed events continue throughout the day in the vicinity of the town hall culminating at 10.30pm in the 3D Projection Show.
Antrim Town: The Big Jubilee Lunch at Antrim Castle Gardens and Clotworthy House.
Portadown: The Fields of Life charity will light a beacon, one of thousands lit simultaneously around the entire UK, at the top of Slieve Donard – to coincide with lighting of beacons at three of the UK’s highest peaks, prior to the lighting of the National Beacon at Buckingham Palace at 10.30pm.
Hillsborough: Concert in Wallace Park and Beacon Lighting Ceremonies. Queen Tribute Act, Flash Harry, will take centre stage at Wallace Park on at Lisburn City Council’s Diamond Jubilee Concert and Fireworks Display.
A beacon will be lit at 10pm at the Downshire Monument, in the Monument Field, Old Coach Road. This will be followed by fireworks. Carrickfergus: Beacon lighting at Blackhead Car Park in Whitehead and Fisherman’s Quay in Carrick.