Special occasions ensure Banbury and villages will remember the Queen's Platinum Jubilee

Special guests helped The Sunshine Centre mark the platinum jubilee and the opening of its new sensory room.

A double celebration took place in Banbury’s Princess Diana Park to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and the opening of the new Jubilee Sensory Room at the Sunshine Centre.

Proceedings were presided over by Sir Tony Baldry and Marjorie Glasgow, the Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire.

The sensory room is a much-needed resource and has been made possible through two donations.

Sir Tony and the Lord Lieutenant each cut a cake for the special occasions. These were served alongside a range of other cakes and doughnuts, made and donated for the occasion.

Some of the key players from Adderbury's platinum jubilee celebrations

During the event everyone was encouraged to place pieces on the Mosaic which records the platinum jubilee and will be displayed as a memento on the outside of the centre

Puritan Radios went along to play music, while the centre and Cherwell Theatre Company teamed up to stage a jubilee-themed young people’s dance project with a performance at the event. The project was funded by Oxfordshire Community Foundation’s Arts Council funding and Cherwell District Council.

Young people from the Neithrop and Ruscote area of Banbury spent two days with the theatre company practising dances representing the seven decades of the reign of Her Majesty.

Jill Edge from the centre thanked the staff and volunteers and added: “We have really enjoyed this very special time commemorating seventy years of Her Majesty’s reign and look forward to using the new Jubilee Sensory Room to enhance opportunities for children and their families in Banburyshire.”

Elsewhere, Adderbury also joined in the jubilee as shown by our photo of Her Majesty with Val Scarff, organiser of the village’s celebrations and Emily Reed, who led the fancy dress parade.