Silver band for Bilton Diamond Jubilee

Churches in Bilton worked together to hold a huge street party and Jubilee lunch, south of Rugby. A silver band played the National Anthem and the churches provided a free barbecue, giving away souvenir mugs and Diamond Jubilee New Testaments to locals who attended.

Richard Street, an organiser, said: “Nothing has been done on this scale here before. We had nearly 2,000 people all having a fantastic time, despite the rain. Each gazebo-covered area had a host from a local church to make people feel welcome. It was generosity, care and attention from hosts that people were most touched by. One lady said she will try out Bilton Evangelical Church because she felt so comfortable.”

It was Bilton churches working together to hold one huge street party and Jubilee lunch. The Evangelical, Methodist, Anglican and Catholic churches of Bilton all pitched in to give Bilton a real sense of community fun.

A band played cover songs from 50s to the current day, many were up for the tug of war and the day will end with the Silver band led a rendition of the national anthem. The main street was closed and buses rerouted for this all-day celebration from 9am-6pm.  The BBQ, refreshments and a souvenir mug and New Testament was provided free by the churches to everyone.

Richard continued: “Because many of us live on a main road we couldn't do a little street party so we went bigger and worked with the council. We don’t want this just to be a one off event and then the Church goes quiet again so we are planning to link it with other events coming up for example one of the community BBQs and we will look for other mission opportunities in the life of our community soon.”