PETER Tavy's celebrations of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee began when the church bells rang out at 10.30am on June 3, heralding a special joint church and chapel service in the parish marquee.

After the service, parishioners and friends enjoyed a 'Big Jubilee Lunch' picnic in the marquee, while several groups braved the wet weather to eat in the open air. The church bells rang out again at 3pm, to coincide with the bell ringing taking place as part of the Thames River Pageant.

The parish celebrations continued on the Monday morning, after the completion of the 'Diamond Jubilee Trail Run' — which started and ended at the Peter Tavy Inn — with residents gathering for the official re-opening of the parish playground. As the gates were opened, young parishioners streamed in to try out the new and refurbished equipment.

In the afternoon residents joined together again at the marquee for ingenious, unusual and hilarious family fun sports. The games were created by local farmer Edward Dodd, who kindly provided the field for the parish activities.

Following the sports, the young people of the parish were presented with commemorative diamond jubilee mugs, provided by the Parish Council, and bibles, from St Peter's Church and Peter Tavy Methodist Church, by some of the parish's older residents.

In the evening residents re-assembled to enjoy a hog and ram roast and many people made their way up to the top of Smeardon Down where the Peter Tavy Jubilee Beacon was lit by Norman Nankivell and his team of beacon builders. This was Norman's fourth royal beacon built in this location.

The organisers of the weekend have expressed thanks to the many people who worked hard to make the events successful.