King Charles III Coronation - Lower Shiplake

ABOUT 120 residents of New Road and Crowsley Road in Lower Shiplake attended a street party.

People decorated their tables in Union flag table clothes and many wore royal family face masks.

They brought their own lunches and drinks to enjoy while the Bottleneck Brothers, alias villagers Gareth Evans and Tudor Taylor, performed folk and rock music.

Micky Denehy, one of the organisers, said: “We said fancy dress was optional but encouraged people to wear crowns and a lot did.

“There were 60 rounds of bunting strung across the trees which had been up for a while before the party and I would hear kids saying, ‘This is the party road’.

“The food included coronation chicken, decorated cakes and biscuits and salads. A few tables had hot soup, which I thought was a good idea as it was quite chilly.”

The rain didn’t manage to stop the festivities, thanks to awnings over the tables.

Mr Denehy said: “We were really worried about the weather but it was much drier than expected. A lot of people had access to gazebos so all the tables were covered in some way and we moved them away when the rain stopped.

“The nice thing was that people were able to wander up and down the street and talk to different groups. We have some elderly residents who have recently lost husbands and wives so it was a chance for us to get round and support those who are going through a bit of a tough time.

“More people came than I feared after seeing the weather and a couple of families who recently moved to the area came as well. I now have three new people I can meet for coffee and I could see other people exchanging telephone numbers. The band have played in quite a few pubs around Henley and are now on their way to perform in South Korea. They were asked to play there after taking their guitars with them on a walking trip around Japan and causing quite a sensation. I suppose word got to Korea.

“They can play for four hours without repeating a song so there was quite a lot but what was really touching was that they invited children to sing and so sang some Taylor Swift and things like that. When they first suggested people sing, there was the usual quietness and then a few children got on stage and sang some songs.

“It was nice to see them initially nervous but then so excited when they got a round of applause. A teenage girl sang Adele beautifully.

“Some people have suggested we hold a party annually rather than just waiting for an occasion but I don’t know if that will happen. Not everyone in Shiplake is a royalist but I was really pleased the community came together and had lots of fun.”