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One of the great legacies of the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977 was the Jubilee Walkway. Its main feature, The Queen's Walk, which gradually opened on the South Bank between 1977 and 1994, made it possible to walk beside the Thames from Lambeth Bridge to Tower Bridge.
So as soon as we at the Jubilee Walkway Trust heard that the Olympic Games would take place in London in 2012, the same year as the Diamond Jubilee, we dreamed up a new route for London, 60 kilometres — one for every year of the Queen's reign — to help people walk to the main Olympic sites. It will also leave a lasting memorial to the Diamond Jubilee.
Jim Walker, chief executive of Walk England, mapped out the route through Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Bayswater to Paddington, Little Venice to Victoria Park in the East End via Regent's Canal.
The new Jubilee Greenway then travels through the Olympic Park on top of Bazalgette's sewer pipes, down to Beckton Park, across the Thames to Woolwich, along the Thames Path and the Queen's Walk returning via Westminster, up the Mall to the Palace.
The route already exists and is now being marked and signed with the generous support of the Mayor, Transport for London and relevant landowners. We will have 60 lit markers at key places and more than 430 glass markers to guide the walkers. Some are already in place (notably three on the Broad Walk in Kensington Gardens and eight on the canal towpath around Camden).
For past Jubilees the Queen travelled widely through Britain and the Commonwealth, but in the summer of 2012 London will be the focal point for the celebrations — first the Diamond Jubilee and later the Olympic Games.
I am something of a Jubilee man, having been employed by the London Celebrations Committee for the Silver Jubilee in 1977. When Callaghan's Labour government declined to allocate any funds, this committee raised money to organise a wide range of spectacular celebrations.
The organisers followed the Home Office's succinct advice: “You must not bore the public. You must not kill the Queen.” There was everything from opera and ballet, theatrical extravaganzas, exhibitions, sporting events, river races and events throughout London's boroughs.
My small role was to persuade buildings with flagpoles to fly the Jubilee flag. I am no salesman but I gave a flag to Apsley House, where it was widely seen. To help keep my job, I then asked the chauffeurs which way my bosses were driven to work and peppered those routes with flags.
The earlier Jubilees of 1977 and 2002 all began in apathy but developed into glorious fun. This Diamond Jubilee is already understood as a remarkable achievement, the Queen even now the third-longest reigning monarch in Britain's history. There is also a fin de siècle feel about it — the best possible opportunity to celebrate our Queen and show appreciation for her life of dedicated service.
At a time when government has recognised that every £1 given to walking saves the National Health Service some £7, the Jubilee Greenway offers a further benefit — a fascinating route round London, linking the West End to the East End.
Hugo Vickers is chairman of the Jubilee Walkway Trust. He has recently been appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Berkshire.
Reader views (1)
"...the Silver Jubilee in 1977 (w)hen Callaghan's Labour government declined to allocate any funds"
I sincerely hope that there will not be a Labour government in power in 2012.
- Percy Vere, Chipping Campden, Glos., 08/04/2010 19:10
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