A crowd gathered at a local park to watch a beacon lit in celebration of the Queen’s 90th birthday.
St Stephen Parish Council lit the beacon as part of the National Queen’s 90th Birthday Beacons Project, where the monarch set the principal beacon alight at Windsor Castle which was followed by more than 1,000 lit around the country.
Parish council chairman, Mick Freeman, said: “There is a long and unbroken tradition in our country of celebrating Royal occasions with the lighting of beacons, the last time being the Jubilee in 2012.
“The parish council was very proud to take part in the National Queen’s 90th Birthday Beacons Project by once again lighting our beacon at Greenwood Park.”
As well as the beacon, lit by resident Peter Tiffany who shares his birthday with the sovereign, spectators could enjoy other activities in the evening.
Brownie leaders arranged a range of games in the park, including a ‘wide game’ in which more than 90 rainbows, brownies and guides took part.
Beavers, cubs, scouts and explorers from units in the parish attended with their flags and guiders and parents of the brownies also provided cocoa and sausage rolls for all the children who took part.
Members of the 220 (St Albans) Squadron Air Training Corps were on-hand to steward the event, managing the car parking and ensuring everyone’s safety by marshalling the exclusion zone around the base of the beacon.
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