Derby will be flying the flag to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, with an extended Bank Holiday weekend to pay tribute to Britain’s longest reigning monarch.
Derby City Council and partners across the city are coming together to celebrate and reflect on our modern Elizabethan Age with family activities leading up to the big weekend. The city centre will be the scene of events, beginning with the lighting of a ceremonial beacon on Cathedral Green on Thursday 2 June.
Not to be missed is a Jubilee Military Parade with the Royal Engineers (170 Infrastructure Support Engineer Group) on Saturday 4 June, before the start of a weekend of celebrations hosted by Derby LIVE, the Council’s arts and events arm.
The Market Place will be decked out street-party style in red, white and blue, complete with picnic benches, ready for citizens to bring their own picnics to enjoy a weekend of live music and acts, reflecting the sounds of the past 70 years and showing the range of our city’s cultural scene, hosted by Andy Twigge and Jack Tymon from BBC Radio Derby.
In the month leading up to the Platinum Jubilee, Derby Libraries are offering reading lists, shared reading sessions and a theatre performance for greater understanding about how our world has changed during the Queen’s 70 years on the throne. There is also the chance to reflect on what ‘reigning’ means in a debate at the Museum of Making, while the whole family can look for the Royal characters along the Platinum Jubilee Beacon Trail in St Peter’s Quarter.
HM Lord-Lieutenant for Derbyshire, Mrs Elizabeth Fothergill, CBE, said:
The last 70 years have seen phenomenal changes in the way we live, and it’s incredible that our Sovereign Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 2nd has been at the helm throughout, our longest serving monarch, the epitome of strength and steadfast commitment. It will be wonderful to come together as a city and enjoy a celebration of those years.
Derby City Council, Derby Cathedral, Derby Museums, and St Peter’s Quarter and Cathedral Quarter Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) are the partners involved in bringing the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations to Derby city centre.
The full programme is below. See our Jubilee page for full information and information about community events. Share your celebrations on social media with #DerbyJubilee.
Saturday 30 April to Sunday 12 June
Platinum Jubilee Beacon Trail
Hosted by St Peter’s Quarter BID
FREE
Bring your family to find seven characters, who have come to life from Buckingham Palace, hidden in the windows of shops and businesses in and around St Peters Street. Guided by Sir Barnaby Beacon, each character has a tale to tell about a different decade in Her Majesty’s 70 year reign. Find out more at St Peter's Quarter events.
Platinum Jubilee Prize Draw
Led by St Peter’s Quarter and Cathedral Quarter BIDS
FREE TO ENTER
Open to anyone over the age of 16. Get your tickets from businesses in both areas of the city centre or download from the BID’s websites to be in with the chance of winning one of 12 prizes of £100 vouchers to spend in shops and businesses in these areas.
From May to June
The Big Jubilee Read
Led by Derby Libraries, The Reading Agency and BBC Arts
The Big Jubilee Read celebrates great reads from across the Commonwealth to coincide with the Jubilee.
An expert panel of librarians, booksellers and literature specialists has chosen 70 titles from a “readers’ choice” longlist with ten books for each decade of Her Majesty The Queen’s reign. The list offers brilliant, beautiful and thrilling writing produced by authors from a wide range of Commonwealth countries with the final list of titles to be announced in April. Reading Groups in Derby Libraries will be reading and reviewing a selection of these titles during May and June and then voting for their favourite books, with the winner revealed at the end of June.
A selection of the titles will be available in the eLibrary at derbylibraries.borrowbox.com
Find out more at Derby Libraries
Jubilee Themed Shared Reading
Hosted by Derby Book Festival at Derby Libraries
Wednesday 18 May, 10.30am to 11.30am, Riverside Library
Thursday 19 May, 10.30am to 11.30am Alvaston Library
FREE
Join our friendly and informal Jubilee themed Shared Reading events, where we will look at a range of readings and reflect on how the words impact us. You can read, listen, talk, ask questions, or just observe. Everyone welcome.
Places are limited - booking is essential. Find out more or join by emailing: shared.reading@derbybookfestival.co.uk
Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Service
Sat 21 May, 2.30pm
Derby Cathedral
FREE
All are welcome to attend this celebration of our monarch’s reign, which will feature the exceptional Derby Cathedral Choir.
Theatre and Upstairs at The Western, in partnership with Spark Arts, present Roti Moon
Written and Performed by Chandni Mistry
Sat 28 May, 11.30am and 2pm, Normanton Library
FREE – but book through Derby Libraries on 01332 642640
For children aged 3+ and their families.
Diya thinks her roti is yuck! She’d rather eat pizza!
Her grandad tells her that his mother’s, mother’s, mother flipped her roti too high and it landed in the sky. That the moon is a roti!
Diya doesn’t believe him and sets out to find out more about the moon. She meets some charming new animal friends on the way and learns a lot!
Bank Holiday weekend Thursday 2 June to Sunday 5 June
A Right Royal Knees Up!
Hosted by Derby Museums, in partnership with Derby LIVE
Thursday 2 June, 11am to 2pm, Museum of Making
FREE – no booking required
Have fun and make memories at a Right Royal Knees Up to celebrate the Queen’s 70th Jubilee. There will be lots to see and do, including swing dancing, music and making activities inspired by our collections to commemorate the day. Visit the River Kitchen for scrumptious tea and cakes fit for a Queen or feel free to bring your own picnic to enjoy on Cathedral Green. Generously supported by Derby Museums Friends.
Queen’s Jubilee Beacon Lighting Ceremony
Cathedral Green
Thursday 2 June, from 9pm
FREE
As part of the long-standing tradition of celebrating Royal Jubilees, Weddings and Coronations, Derby will join over 1,500 other locations across the UK to light a beacon on Cathedral Green, near the Bonnie Prince Charlie statue.
From 9.35pm a lone piper will play Diu Regnare, followed at 9.40pm by Majesty, a bugle call especially written for the occasion. The lighting of the Beacon at 9.45pm will be accompanied by a choir singing Song for the Commonwealth.
Gather nearby to be part of this rousing ceremony, and be mesmerized by an atmospheric Fire Trail, created by Walk The Plank, until 11pm.
First Fridays: Reigning
Hosted by Derby Museums
Friday 3 June, 6pm to 9pm, Museum of Making
£5, free for Derby Museums Friends
What does it mean to be a Queen in 2022? An after-hours panel discussion under the First Fridays banner, co-produced by Derby Museums and local artists and communities. Generously supported by Derby Museums Friends. Booking essential. Book online through Derby Museums or call 01332 641901.
Jubilee Military Parade with the Royal Engineers (170 Infrastructure Support Engineer Group)
Saturday 4 June, 1pm to 2pm, from Cathedral Green to outside the Council House
FREE
Troops from the Royal Engineers (170 Infrastructure Support Engineer Group) will parade from Cathedral Green to a marching band. At the Council House they will give a Royal Salute to the Lord Lieutenant and their Commander, Colonel Gavin Hatcher OBE, commanding officers, The Mayor of Derby and High Sherriff, followed by the National Anthem.
To mark The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, a special commemorative medal will be awarded to serving frontline members of the police, fire, emergency services, prison services and the Armed Forces. Acting as a token of the nation’s thanks, the Platinum Jubilee Medal follows a long history of awarding medals to mark Royal Jubilees, with the first one awarded to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1887.
The ceremonies will be broadcast live on the Big Screens in the Market Place.
Platinum Party at the Market Place
Hosted by Derby LIVE with the Cathedral Quarter BID
Saturday 4 June, 2pm to 7.30pm, The Market Place
FREE
Bring your own picnic. Picnic benches provided.
Re-live the musical highlights of the past 70 years in one afternoon with a series of live tribute acts, hosted by Jack Tymon from BBC Radio Derby. Sit back with your picnic and get in the party atmosphere with The Beatles by The Plastic Beatles, UB40 by Ultimate 40, Spice Girls by Spicy Girls and Little Mix by LMX. See Derby LIVE for the full programme and timings.
Platinum Party at the Palace screening
Hosted by Derby LIVE
Sat 4 Jun, 7.30pm to 10.30pm, Derby Market Place
FREE
Bring your own picnic. Picnic benches provided.
Experience the Platinum Party at the Palace on our Big Screens, with a BBC broadcast of the concert live from Buckingham Palace. With state-of-the-art technology and a stunning stage design in front of this iconic Royal Residence, the event will feature an incredible range of musical highlights from global pop stars to rock royalty to opera singers with a full, live orchestra.
Grab your friends, family, food and drinks and make a night of it in the heart of Derby, with the Market Place decked out in red, white and blue.
The Big Jubilee Lunch at the Market Place
Hosted by Derby LIVE
Sunday 5 June, 12pm to 6pm, Derby Market Place
FREE
Bring your own picnic. Picnic benches provided.
The Big Jubilee Lunch takes place across the nation on Sunday 5 June, with the Market Place the meeting point for communities across Derby. Come and share friendship, food and fun. It’s the party that’s right up your street, and if you don’t have a celebration in yours, come and join ours!
Join your host Andy Twigge, BBC Radio Derby’s breakfast show presenter, for an entertaining stage show from local acts, all projected on the big screen. Sinfonia Viva, the orchestra of the East Midlands, will play show tunes from the last 70 years.
Surtal Arts will be performing with two acts. Dhol Frequency are an ensemble of talented percussionists performing popular rhythms in their own contemporary style, in a unique fusion of jazz percussion and the mighty Indian Dhol. And one of the most versatile and accomplished artists in the UK right now, Sandeep Raval, will perform Taiko to Tabla. Let the beat of his global percussion set take you on a journey from Japan to India to Africa, in a celebration of Her Majesty The Queen’s Commonwealth.
Also on stage will the energetic Hoverla Ukrainian Dance Ensemble. Members have been proudly keeping Ukrainian traditions alive through Ukrainian folk dancing and music in Derby since 1952, and have performed throughout Europe, appeared on Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two and have entertained Prince Charles!
Now more than ever, Hoverla believe it’s important to upkeep Ukrainian culture and traditions, and are proud of Derby and would like to thank all the communities within Derby for their incredible support to Ukraine during these last few months.
See Derby LIVE for the full programme and timings.