1950s: God Save Queen Elizabeth II

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After the austere post-war years, the nation was enjoying a new sense of optimism in 1953, chiefly thanks to the Queen’s Coronation celebrations, as Nicola Rippon reports.

THROUGHOUT the nation, 1953 was inevitably dominated by the coronation of Britain’s new young queen, Elizabeth II.

But, before Derbyshire could join in the celebrations, there were some important local issues to be considered – not least the official opening of a new school and, a few miles up the road, the lobby organised by another, ancient, educational establishment against what was to become a familiar sight in the latter half of the 20th century.

In late May, an enquiry was under way into objections against the building of a new power station at Willington.

The loudest voices raised against the plan came, surprisingly, not from the residents of the villages to the south-west of Derby, but from the governors of Repton School.

Their representative, Eric Blain, said that Repton, founded in 1557, had become one of England’s “really great public schools” and that parents, who chose such a school for its “healthy rural surroundings”, might be tempted to go elsewhere by “half a dozen cooling towers and industrial buildings”.

The governors requested that the power station be built at least one mile from the school.

Meanwhile, as Littleover Secondary Modern, on Pastures Hill, celebrated its official opening, one of the visiting dignitaries caused a stir by pointing out that the premises were already something of an anachronism.

Designers had now decided that schools should be built upwards, in towers, rather than stretched out over a large site. But the pupils and teachers, who had been using Littleover School since 1949, were more than pleased with both the facilities and buildings.

Land for the school had been purchased in 1936, but work had not begun until after the Second World War. The style, if a little functional, was elegant enough and featured several nods to the still fashionable art moderne design.

Two long corridors stretched outwards from a central entrance hall, with two further corridors running off each of them.

And, while a gymnasium block had yet to be built, hard tennis and netball courts, playing fields, two football pitches, two hockey pitches and a cricket square had all been incorporated, as had an assembly hall featuring a theatrical stage with lights, a green room and a dressing room.

Between two of the classrooms had been built a “flatlet”, comprising kitchen, bathroom and living room, for girls to practise housekeeping.

But it was the crowning of Elizabeth II on Tuesday, June 2, that occupied almost everyone. By the end of May, the county’s Coronation celebrations were well under way.

The biggest in Derby – the Derby and County Coronation Year Exhibition – was held on Bass’ Recreation Ground from May 29 until June 13.

Some 400 stands were erected, staffed by 1,500 people, representing organisations and businesses of all descriptions, including Rolls-Royce and British Celanese, who presented their “Court of Fashion”.

This featured beautiful creations by top designers of the day, including Norman Hartnell who, six years earlier, had designed the new Queen’s wedding dress, all made from Celanese fabrics.

The exhibition enjoyed an average daily attendance of 7,000 and several local businesses reported making important overseas trading contacts.

Derbyshire had its own representatives in the official Coronation celebrations, too. Derby-born Constance Spry was commissioned to decorate Westminster Abbey for the ceremony and, with her creative and business partner, Rosemary Hume, invented a cold buffet dish – Coronation Chicken.

Littleover’s Stan Bellaby, a 22-year-old lance-sergeant in the Queen’s Company, Grenadier Guards, was one of those chosen to mount guard over the crown and Coronation regalia.

The former Derby Co-operative Society employee was due to be demobbed the following month, after five years’ service in the Grenadiers and looked forward to joining Derbyshire County Police.

Many years later, now retired from the police and living in Ripley, Mr Bellaby recalled that great day: “A temporary annex had been built on to Westminster Abbey, to be used by various dignitaries to get ready before entering the abbey itself.

“We stood shoulder to shoulder around the edge of the room, with rifles and bayonets and no room to move. I recognised many faces from newspaper photographs.

“The one that still sticks in my mind is Winston Churchill, who was within touching distance of me.”

Another local man serving in the Grenadier Guards, 20-year-old Lawrence Lambert, whose family lived at Lord Street, Allenton, would be in the Coronation procession, and 21-year-old musician Eric Beardsall, from Allen Street, Allenton, would be playing the euphonium in the Royal Naval School of Music Band in the procession.

Yet another Derby representative would be 19-year-old Daniel Docherty, of Brackens Lane, Alvaston, who was one of the Irish Guardsmen chosen to line the route.

In Derby, official celebrations began the day before the Coronation, with schools closing at Monday lunchtime until Wednesday morning, the exception being the town’s grammar schools where examinations meant that pupils would only have Coronation Day off.

That Monday morning, some 23,000 Derby children received an inscribed spoon from the Education Authority and, at each school, an appropriate ceremony was held “to bring home to the children the meaning and significance of the Coronation”.

Meanwhile, the peace of the Riverside Gardens was broken by two loud explosions from across the Derwent, near Exeter flats, where armoured cars of the Derbyshire Yeomanry were practising the 21-gun salute they were due to give at 10.26am on Coronation Day, at the exact moment the Queen would leave Buckingham Palace on her way to Westminster Abbey.

The cold and damp Coronation Day weather did its best to bedraggle the bright bunting that decorated most of the county’s streets, but did little to dampen spirits.

Those lucky enough to own televisions threw open their doors to neighbours, who gathered around the tiny, flickering black and white screens for hours on end. Many others saw the ceremony on televisions in a large tent at Bass’ Rec.

The inclement weather conditions caused the cancellation of some events. The fireworks display at Markeaton Park was one – a display held the previous Saturday had attracted 2,000 people who saw an image of the Queen’s face surmounted by a crown outlined in white and yellow fireworks – while at Normanton Park, the Sherwood Foresters Band played as scheduled and the Middies managed a display of counter-marching before the rest of the programme was cancelled.

The fair at the Racecourse did a little better, with a steady stream of children enjoying the rides and sideshows, while local cricketers struggled gamely through their tournament in weather more suitable for football.

Not surprisingly, considering that most of the exhibits were indoors, events on Bass’ Rec attracted by far the most visitors.

In Derby, there were nearly 250 street parties. The town council had allocated 12 guineas (£12.60) as prizes to be awarded to the three best-decorated streets in the borough. The residents of Grey Street, off Gerard Street, won first prize.

Tubs containing masses of flowers were set at regular intervals on the pavements down either side of the street, every windowsill had a window box filled with red, white and blue flowers and, at the bottom of the street, a large board proclaimed: “God Save The Queen,” while naval signal flags spelled out the same message.

The mayoress received a bouquet from five-year-old Valerie Wood, whose parents had organised the decorations and who themselves were presented with a “hall set” by grateful neighbours.

Tewkesbury Street and Gisborne Street tied for second place, and there were commendations for Winchester Crescent, Colombo, Norman, Birdwood, Harcourt , St Luke’s, York, Bath, Albion, Canal and Nelson Streets.

Almost every street leading from London Road, between The Spot and Bateman Street, held a party and many forms of alternative accommodation were negotiated in a bid to beat the elements as schoolrooms, garages, cycle sheds and the spare rooms behind pubs were utilised.

Yates Street celebrated beneath a “God Save the Queen” banner some 116 years old; it had hung over the same street on Queen Victoria’s Coronation Day in 1837.

While many parties were forced indoors because of the weather, 60 children from Osmaston Road refused to be daunted and donned raincoats to eat their tea in the open.

In Harrison Street, too, scores of children ignored the rain and insisted on enjoying their tea in the street as planned.

Residents of Underhill Avenue had also managed their tea, and were about to embark on their sports, when the rain came down again. There was a brief interval while mothers went to fetch raincoats and wellington boots, and then the festivities continued, although the participants in the ladies versus gents cricket match got thoroughly soaked.

Many communities arranged their own fancy dress competition: in Etwall Street, one up-to-the-minute costume was that of a mountaineer, a tribute to the first successful attempt on Mount Everest, which had been announced earlier that day.

For several families, Coronation Day was marked by a new arrival. Mr and Mrs Geoffrey Ellis celebrated the birth of a baby son, while Mrs Kathleen Storer welcomed her daughter, Elizabeth June.

Other Coronation Day babies included a daughter to Mrs Betty Jackson, born at home in Curzon Lane, Alvaston; Elizabeth Danuta Wasikowska and Jill Bennett were born at the Queen Mary Maternity Home, while six babies – Hans Peter Foss, Neville William Hollies, Sarah Sherbrook, Michael Robert Poole, Philip John Hunkin and Donald William Holmes – were born at the Nightingale Maternity Home.

At the City Hospital, one boy – Anthony John Dakin – and one girl – Elizabeth Mary Snuggs – also made their entrances.

Two weeks after the Coronation, there was an additional treat for 13,000 children from town and county who attended local cinemas to see films of the glorious event.

The Gaumont, on London Road, showed both a newsreel and a 90-minute Technicolor film entitled A Queen is Crowned, which was narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier.

Audiences at the Odeon in St Peter’s Street and the Regal in East Street were treated to Elizabeth is Queen, a newsreel and a film about Westminster Abbey.

For many, the Coronation celebrations seemed to mark the end of post-war austerity in Britain and a new hope for the future.

As the year drew to a close, the people of Derbyshire looked forward with enthusiasm.

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