A beacon will light up Blackheath over the Platinum Jubilee holiday as part of celebrations to mark the Queen’s 70 years on the throne.
Local choirs will sing as the beacon is lit at 9.30pm on Thursday 2 June, along with about 1,500 others across the UK and Commonwealth, in an event led by the Blackheath Society.
The two-metre high beacon will be lit by the Young Mayor of Lewisham, 15-year-old Rosanna Campbell, at the paved circle in the centre of the heath. It will burn for about an hour.
Before that, local singers, mostly from Blackheath Halls, will perform a concert from 8.30pm, with seven choirs each picking a song from a decade of the Queen’s reign. Before the beacon is lit, a bugler, Trinity Laban student Ed Habershon, will sound a specially-written tune.
The Blackheath Society will also appoint a temporary town crier for the day to start the commemorations in Blackheath Village.
Campbell, who is a student at Bonus Pastor College in Downham, said: “I am excited and proud to light one of the beacons on behalf of young people in our borough. I think it’s important to celebrate ways to bring people together and this celebration is a great opportunity to do so.”
Paul Watts, the chair of the Blackheath Society, thanked the volunteers putting the event on, and said: “Our thanks to Rosanna who shows us all that it’s possible to serve your community at any age – 15 for her and 96 for the Queen.”
Other beacons will be lit at the same time in General Gordon Square, Woolwich, and at Lesnes Abbey Woods.
Greenwich Council’s main jubilee celebrations will take place in Charlton Park, with the free Together 22 festival on Thursday 2 June and Platinum Picnic in the Park the following day.
In Greenwich itself, there will be a number of events at the Old Royal Naval College across the four-day weekend, with free activities including royal-themed family craft sessions and an exhibition documenting the monarch’s links to the historic site.
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