Public invited to attend lighting of Queen’s Platinum Jubilee beacon at John O'Groats
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A beacon will be lit at John O'Groats tonight to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Help for Heroes, the armed forces and military veterans charity, has joined forces with local community groups to organise the event.
It will be one of thousands of beacons across the UK and the Commonwealth marking the Queen's 70-year reign and members of the public are invited to go along to watch.
The beacon at John O'Groats will be lit by retired postmistress Nellie Manson. Her late husband Sandy, who was a veteran of the Arctic convoys during World War II, had lit previous beacons with the same lighting torches that will be used tonight (June 2).
They have inscriptions on them going back to the 1800s.
The two torches will be lit at the John O’Groats signpost and carried by Lord Thurso, Lord-Lieutenant of Caithness, and Nellie Manson to the "forge", situated to the rear of the craft village. Onlookers are invited to join the proceedings at 9.15pm at the signpost and follow the torches to the lighting ceremony.
The beacon forms part of the official programme announced by Buckingham Palace for the jubilee weekend.
Local Help for Heroes volunteer Peter Cowin has worked with Lord Thurso, Andrew Mowat (John O’Groats Development Trust), Mark Gibson (Dunnet and Canisbay Community Council) and the community to bring the event together.
Melanie Waters, chief executive of Help for Heroes, said: “Help for Heroes is honoured to salute Her Majesty, as we did at the beacon lighting for the Diamond Jubilee in 2012, by taking part in the Platinum Jubilee beacons and proudly supporting the lighting of the beacon at John O’Groats.”
Beacons will be lit in all 54 Commonwealth capitals and the principal beacon lighting will take place at Buckingham Palace tonight.
Bruno Peek, pageantmaster of the Queen’s Jubilee Platinum Beacons, said: “Building on a long tradition of lighting beacons to mark significant royal celebrations, thousands of beacons will be lit across the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. They will enable local communities to join together to pay tribute to Her Majesty as part of the official programme of events.”
