In celebration of Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, the people of The Knoll came together for the lighting of a beacon on Broomhill Common.
About a year before, the Chairman of the Knoll Residents Association, Steve Sangster thought it would be nice if we had our own beacon… and that we should do it in style. No gas-beacon for us: this was going to be a traditional beacon made from wood, and burning wood. The wood… sweet chestnut was to be sourced from his own managed woodland… where ten additional new trees would be planted to offset the carbon footprint of the beacon.
It was around a year in the planning, the beacon design, our test lighting, and not an inconsiderable amount of time and energy spent on bureaucracy… and for all that we had no idea if anybody would actually turn up. But turn up they did… You did… residents of the Knoll, along with friends and family from surrounding areas!
Several independent estimates put the total audience at up to 900; a number that was totally beyond our wildest dreams and not a bad turn out from a do-it-yourself event with all advertising by word-of-mouth, twitter, Facebook and a few home-made posters pinned on trees! All-in-all, the jubilee beacon demonstrated that the residents of the Knoll are amazing, and there is a great community spirit that can be found if we just look for the things that bring us together. Like the beacon itself, we just need to find the spark!
Here is Steve Sangster’s Knoll Jubilee Beacon video, filmed across the day from the transporting and building on the Thursday morning, the church service at St John’s United Reform Church, the candlelight procession, and the lighting on the common, on the evening of Thursday 2nd June, 2022. Enjoy!