Guest post by local historian
Philip Grant
Queen Elizabeth II in the Coronation Coach, 2 June 1953. (Image from the internet)
When King Charles III is crowned at Westminster Abbey on 6 May, it will
be almost 70 years since his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, had her Coronation.
So much has changed during that time, in Wembley and elsewhere.
According to Brent Council, only eleven roads in the whole borough have
applied to be closed for street parties on this occasion. Quintain have
apparently not applied to close Olympic Way (which they are temporarily
renaming King’s Way – a corruption of the 1924 British Empire Exhibition’s
Kingsway) for the Coronation street party they are organising. (Do they think
they own it, although it was adopted as a highway by Brent Council in the early
1980s?)
This article is not about the 2023 Coronation, but how it was celebrated
in 1953. It felt like the dawn of a new age. The end was in sight for post-war
rationing (sweets had come off rationing in February 1953, although sugar and
some meats were still rationed). The country had a new, young Queen, and there
was a feeling of optimism for the future.
Sitting down for a Coronation street party in Deanscroft Avenue, Kingsbury,
in 1953.
(Courtesy of Susan Larter)
Kingsbury got its celebrations underway on Saturday 30 May 1953, with a
Coronation Carnival. A quarter-mile long procession of decorated floats formed
up in Valley Drive, before travelling along Kingsbury Road, up Honeypot Lane
and along Princes Avenue, to a fête on the playing fields of the County grammar
school (now Kingsbury High). The float carrying the Coronation “Carnival Queen”
had a guard of honour from the local Sea Cadets, while all the other local youth
organisations marched behind.
Kingsbury Swimming Pool, seen in the 1960s. (Brent Archives – Wembley History Society Colln.)
Kingsbury Swimming Pool, in Roe Green Park, also played a part in the
celebrations, staging a Coronation swimming gala in which Kingsbury S.C. took
on teams from Wembley, Willesden and other local swimming clubs in front of a
large crowd.
The weather over that weekend was perfect for several local street
parties that were held, but Coronation Day itself, the following Tuesday, was
cold and wet. The residents of Berkeley Road in Kingsbury had decided to hold
their street party for seventy-five children on the big day itself, with food,
singing and a fancy dress competition. It looked like being a washout, but the
owners of Kingsbury Arcade, on the corner with Kingsbury Road, came to the
rescue and let the party be held there free of charge.
The Deanscroft Avenue children in their home-made hats. (Courtesy of Susan Larter)
I don’t know whether the Deanscroft Avenue street party was held on the
weekend before or after the Coronation, but the weather was fine for it. One
feature of the party was that all of the children had to come in home-made hats
or bonnets, and there was probably a prize for the best one.
A “Wembley News” report, with photograph of the Pilgrims Way Coronation tea
party.
(Brent Archives – local newspaper microfilms)
An invitation to the Pilgrims Way Coronation tea party on 6 June 1953. (Courtesy of Paul Kennedy)
I do know which day the Pilgrims Way pre-fab estate had its Coronation
celebrations, because I’ve got a copy of one of the invitations, sent to each
of the 200 children living there. I heard about it from several of those who
took part, during a Brent Archives “Pre-fabs Project” in 2011. Fancy dress was
“optional” but many children, and adults, took up that option, especially as
there was a competition with prizes for the best children in fancy dress.
One of the Pilgrims Way children, and two mums, in fancy dress, 6 June
1953.
(Photos courtesy of Paul Kennedy and Wally Robson)
Thanks to Sir Arthur Elvin (who I believe a member of the Tenants’
Association worked for at Wembley Stadium and Arena), there were special guests
to judge the fancy dress competition. There were no photographs in the local
newspapers then of the famous Harlem Globetrotters basketball players, who were
in Wembley for their annual sporting entertainment show. But Sir Arthur had
sent a photographer along, to capture their visit to Pilgrims Way, and this
photograph appeared in the programme for the Globetrotters’ 1954 week at the
“Empire Pool”.
Harlem Globetrotters players at the Pilgrims Way Coronation party, 1953.
(Brent Archives – Wembley event programmes)
The
“Wembley News” did report the results of the fancy dress competition:
‘Probably the biggest street
party held in Kingsbury on Saturday was the one organised for 200 children of
the Pilgrims-way pre-fab estate. Six members of the Harlem Globe-trotters team
arrived at mid-day to open the party and give an exhibition of their basket
ball wizardry. They also judged the fancy dress parade. Their choice was: Up to
five years old, Patricia Craig (Elizabeth the 1st); 5-10 years,
Pamela Bignell (Gypsy Girl); and 10-15 years, John Gibbons (Long John Silver).’
It wasn’t just Wembley that was celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s
Coronation. There were street parties all across the country. I was 3½ in 1953,
growing up on a post-war Council housing estate in St Leonards-on-Sea, East
Sussex. Our Coronation tea party, where nearly everyone came in fancy dress, is
one of my earliest memories, and although it is not “Wembley” local history, I
will finish off by sharing a couple of pictures from the event with you.
The Blackman Avenue Coronation tea party, June 1953.
I was dressed up as a “Chinaman” (echos of Empire?) for the occasion.
Judging from the look on my face, not wanting to be photographed, I was not too
happy about it! But in the background, you can see the wide grassy open space
which ran down the middle of our street, where the tea party was held, and which
provided a great place for me and the many other (post-war baby boom) children
who lived there to play throughout our childhood.
Philip Grant, in fancy dress, June 1953.
Will there be as much genuine excitement over the Coronation of King
Charles III as there was for that of his mother? I doubt it, but perhaps, 70
years on, I’m getting old and cynical. Some other historian can write about it in
future, if they are interested in doing so, as a piece of social history (“The
dawn of another new age”, or “The last hurrah of the monarchy”?).
If you would like to watch a film produced for Wembley Borough Council
to commemorate the way that the Coronation was celebrated in 1953, Brent
Archives has a 28-minute silent film, mainly in colour, which is now available
to view on the London Screen Archives website LINK.
It begins by showing Civic dignitaries attending services at St John’s
Church and Wembley Town Hall, but goes on to cover a whole range of events,
including the Kingsbury carnival procession and swimming gala, mentioned in the
article. A selection of shops and houses decorated for the Coronation are also
shown, and there are a number of sporting events (my favourite is the Tour de
Wembley cycle race, from the Town Hall, with a “summit finish” on Fryent Way).
Philip Grant.
Editor's note for readers who may be puzzled by coverage of events in Kingsbury under a Wembley headline.
In 1953 the Municipal Borough of Wembley included the former Kingsbury Urban District. The Borough of Wembley was abolished in 1965 when it merged with the Borough of Willesden to become the London Borough of Brent.
