Lydiard Park will be hosting a Jubilee Beacons Lighting Ceremony before the Jubilee weekend festivities begin. 

People are invited to go to the West Swindon park on Thursday June 2 at 9.30pm to see the lighting up one of more than 1,500 beacons across the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and UK Overseas Territories. 

One will also be lit in each of the capital cities of every Commonwealth country. 

The beacons are in recognition of the Queen's 70 years of long and selfless service and will allow local communities, organisations and individuals to pay tribute to her as part of the official Platinum Jubilee Weekend of celebrations.  

The beacon lighting event will kick off three days of celebrations at Lydiard Park with the organisers of MFOR Festival throwing a massive free street-party event called Pimms in the Park in partnership with Swindon MECA and Farrs Catering. 

The three day event includes a fun fair, live music, a classic car display, arts and craft stalls, a raffle and tombola with prizes donated from several Swindon businesses and organisations and even a treasure hunt. 

Debra Collins is one of the organisers for Pimms In The Park and also runs the Swindon Community Notice Board Facebook page. 

"We have had a fantastic response from Swindon businesses to the Tombola & Raffle and we also have an Amazon wishlist where businesses are buying gifts for us to raffle off to," she said. 

"The response has been amazing! And I want to say a big thank you to SCNB admins Dion Dean & Ruth Chambers who have been spearheading this. The effort put in from these ladies is outstanding."

It is also supporting several local charities with proceeds going towards Prospect Hospice, Threshold, Veterans Hub Swindon, Swindon & Wiltshire Pride, Swindon Down’s Syndrome and Ipsum. 

The event will also serve as a trial run for Elon Musk's Starlink satellite system, which organisers intend to use for the upcoming MFOR Festival to fix the card payment issues it had last year. 

"We're really pleased to be able to give back to the community with this free to attend event being provided by local business donations & sponsorship and we hope that people come down and enjoy it," Debra added. 

Pimms In The Park will start on Friday, June 3 and finish on Sunday, June 5. For more information visit the event's Facebook page here - https://www.facebook.com/PimmsInThePark