A Hedgehog’s eye view of the Jubilee

Me in Axbridge with Tessa Munt, MP; the Revd Tim Hawkins; Mrs Yvonne Chamberlain, the Town Crier, Ian Laken, the Mayor and his Lady; and the Deputy Mayor, John Albone.

Sorry I'm a bit late posting my blog about the Jubilee.  June apologies too as she is the one who helps me with the typing and she has been busy pulling together the Summer Edition of the Indie Shaman Magazine.   She had lots of interesting articles from authors and as the magazine is due out of the end of July, this is the month she has to finish the editing.

Anyway back to the Jubilee, which happened while I was staying with Maggie, who took me along to the Axbridge Jubilee Celebrations where I had a great time and met lots of interesting people.  Everyone was very welcoming and nice to me as you can see from my title photo.  I met Tessa Munt, the Liberal Democrat MP for the Wells Constituency; the Reverend Tim Hawkins; Mrs. Yvonne Chamberlain, the Town Crier; Ian Laken the Mayor and his wife; and the Deputy Mayor, John Albone.  I also met Mike Sartain, the Deputy Chair of Axbridge Chamber of Commerce as you can see from the photo below. 

Meeting People - Me with Mike Sartain, Deputy Chair of Axbridge Chamber of Commerce, and the Mayor and his wife.

I’ve been learning about the Queen’s Jubilee.  The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee marks 60 years of the Queen’s reign.   That means the Queen came to the throne on 6 February 1952.   Her coronation was on 2 June 1953.  The only other British monarch to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee was Queen Victoria in 1897 which is quite a long time ago.

One of the special projects launched for the Jubilee was the Woodlands Trust Jubilee Woods.  This will create a 460 acre public wood in Leicestershire and also plant 6 million trees across the UK creating hundreds of new woodlands.  Planting has already started in Autumn last year and will continue until the end of 2012.  I think this is a very good idea and all my wild animal friends will like it as well.

I also like parties.   I got to try some Pimms.

I have been learning about Axbridge while I am here, which is a lovely medieval town on the Southern slope of the Mendips in Somerset.  It has some wonderful old buildings one of which I visited; the King Johns Hunting Lodge is a museum in a 450 year old property owned by the National Trust. 

As you can see I am now a very cultivated hedgehog.   The museum is run by a dedicated group of local volunteers and has many interesting things in it including prehistoric bones found in caves in Bamwell.   There are also rooms showing what it was like in the workhouse, as well as of life as a civilian during the Second World War, an old shop and many more fascinating collections and displays.  You can learn lots there!  

Here I am at the celebration picnic outside Axbridge Butchers with more new friends.  The butchers sell award winning sausages which are very nice.

All that partying was very thirsty work and my Pimms seemed to have vanished but fortunately Maggie lent me her drink to toast the Queen with her and Les.  Apparently toasting someone isn't anything to do with bread like I thought at first.  Which is just as well really as I had no room in my tummy for more food after that picnic!  

Maggie asked if I want to stay another week as she has somewhere else exciting to take me so I'll be back soon with tales of my next adventures.

With many blessings to all my friends old and new
Sham