The Years Get Shorter as One Gets Older.
A lifetime seems to get shorter as one gets older but look back over the years and time shrinks even faster. It seems like only yesterday when the children of Tilling Green celebrated the Coronation with a Fancy Dress Party in Mason Road after spending the day crowded round the very few b&w televisions that were available and watching the Crowning Ceremony.
That was 1953. In 1966 The Queen came to Rye on an official visit and Rye Movie Society made film of the occasion which was viewed by 900 people, in three showings, at Rye Grammar School (now Rye College). “Rye’s Own” recorded that great event and the souvenir issue sold 2,000 copies – a record sale that survives to this day. Rye celebrated again for the Silver Jubilee in 1977, the Golden Jubilee in 2002 and now, for only the second time in history, we come to the Diamond Jubilee.
To commemorate this historic event local photographer Sammi Davis has created a cover that links the Queen’s visit to Rye with a selection of pictures of the decorations and displays that can be seen around the town festooned over private houses and businesses alike.
Queen Elizabeth II has been an inspiration to this country throughout her life. From the carefree days of her childhood, always smiling for the cameras and enjoying life with her sister Margaret through to this Olympic Year when the Games come to London With the Abdication of Edward VIII, her father George VI became King and, completely unexpectedly, Princess Elizabeth became the heir apparent.
During the War, Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service as a mechanic and truck driver, working in war torn London. Living at Windsor Castle, she worked amid oil, valves and engines throughout the daylight hours, winning the admiration and hearts of Londoners wherever she went.
On the death of her father in 1952, at the tender age of 26, Elizabeth became Head of the Commonwealth and queen reagent of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon.
Her coronation service in 1953 was the first to be televised. Between 1956 and 1992, the number of her realms varied as territories gained independence and some realms became republics. Today, in addition to the first four aforementioned countries, Elizabeth is Queen of Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.