Coronation Day, 1953

A street party in the rain, a race, a neighbour’s dog, and the coronation mug she never got.

Told by Jenni’s mum in her own voice. Recorded on VoiceHistory, shared with permission.

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Transcript

What I remember really about the day was the street party that we had in the rain.

I remember trestle tables with lots of sandwiches and jelly and that sort of thing, and then they arranged some games and races for the children and that was my downfall.

I was in one of the races in the rain, running along quite happily, when a neighbour’s dog decided to join in, raced along and jumped up and bit me on the bum.

I don’t think it was a particularly bad bite because I was wearing a plastic mackintosh at the time and its teeth only just got through, but my mum and dad decided that I needed to have a tetanus injection and they took me up to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital which was quite near to us.

I had the indignity of having a tetanus injection in my bum, and when I got back from that the street party was all finished and I didn’t get to receive my coronation mug.

So some good and some bad memories about Coronation Day.

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