THE QUEEN’S Platinum Jubilee celebrations in Saundersfoot were successfully concluded yesterday with a charity band evening. There was a great buzz in the village’s cafes and businesses during the day as momentum built towards the main event. Wogan Terrace was closed for a few hours to allow a large crowd to gather safely and enjoy the festivities.
Rocking Rod started events at the Captain’s Table, followed by the entertainment at Wogan Terrace with the Royal Oak, Harbwr Bar and Foam (The Hean) working together. Both the Twist and Daz were class acts, much appreciated by the crowd. Popular local bands Footbridge and Sleeping Dogs also performed to help make this event a huge success.
It proved to be a successful evening with the large crowd certainly getting into the spirit of the event. The curtain was brought down with local legend Butch playing to a packed Old Chemist Inn. Of course, no village event would be complete without Wally Marr’s unique rendition of “You’ll never walk alone”.
With a heavy downpour in the morning we were all nervous, but our prayers were answered. Apart from one very brief shower the sun shone on all the proceedings. The behaviour of those attending was absolutely impeccable throughout the whole day.
There are so many people to thank, including Marc Owen of PCC for his assistance in the road closure application and Ben for the professional traffic management system which ensured that the village remained accessible throughout. Thanks also to Paul of Scaffold 2000 who kindly donated the stage for the event and John from Tazrock for providing the raffle prizes and John from Tazrock (the specialist crushing and screening company) for providing the raffle prizes – which included tickets to Wales vs New Zealand and Wales vs Australia in the Autumn Internationals at Cardiff Principality Stadium and two tickets to a Manchester United home game at Old Trafford. Thanks also to Nick Pudsey who filmed the event from the roof of Foam.
An event of this size couldn’t be managed without the professionalism of the bar staff, glass collectors, the many marshals and raffle ticket sellers; including Rod, the Chief Marshal. The volunteers were fed throughout the day by Mike and Ross at the Harbwr Bar, a special ‘thank you’ to them.
A sincere thank you was given by organisers to all the local residents, especially those on Wogan Terrace, who fully supported our efforts. The wristband system definitely seemed to work and this enabled us to keep a count of the immense numbers that filled the area.
Some people were happy to just purchase a band to support our worthwhile charities and causes, a very generous gesture so thank you to them.
Councillor Chris Williams said “Following on from last year’s event, I feel that Saundersfoot is more than capable of getting people together to support music around the village over a weekend next year. We should be able to cater for everyone’s taste in music and, hopefully, use the amazing facilities at the Regency Hall and the Decking on Saundersfoot Harbour. The music event is yet another great example of the community spirit we have in Saundersfoot.”
The charities and causes to benefit are Cancer Research (Saundersfoot Branch), Guide Dogs (Saundersfoot & Tenby Branch), Dementia UK, Saundersfoot in Bloom, Saundersfoot Sailing Club and Wisemans Bridge Rowing Club.
