by Angela Cole
acole@thekmgroup.co.uk

It's time to get the bunting out for celebrations to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

There's already been plenty of red, white and blue at events held this week by schools and other groups but this is where the fun start in earnest, with hundreds expected to attend the lunches, tea parties and fun days planned across west Kent – including 38 street parties across the Maidstone borough and 31 in Tonbridge and Malling.

A royal visit was the highlight of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations for hundreds of schoolchildren and local people on Thursday.

The Earl and Countess of Wessex were to officially open the Weavering Diamond Jubilee Orchard, watched by some 20 pupils from St John’s Primary School, who would be singing a specially composed song for them.

Dozens of schoolchildren will also be made VIPs for the day today after taking part in a Kent Messenger competition to capture the image of the most special VIP in the country.

We asked Year 6 classes to create their own pictures of the Queen for the chance to be included in Maidstone council’s tea party to mark the royal festivities and the official opening of the Jubilee Square outside the town hall, which took place on Friday.

The winning classes were Year 6s in Dover class at Brunswick House Primary School in Leafy Lane; Oak Trees Academy in Oak Tree Lane, and Molehill Copse Primary School in Hereford Road.

Many of the pictures submitted will also adorn the KM’s office windows in Middle Middle Row for the weekend and beyond.

On Monday a total of 182 beacons across Kent, more than any other county, will be lit at around 10.15pm, with the Queen lighting the last beacon in The Mall, London, at 10.30pm.

We have included just a small selection of the fun in pictures, from Maidstone, Coxheath and Benenden. More will appear in the Kent Messenger, Friday, June 8 edition. If you are hosting an event this weekend and would like to send us pictures, please email messengernews@thekmgroup.co.uk and a brief description, by Tuesday, June 5.