The celebrations in July 2022 may be the only occasion we have marked 70 years of a monarch’s reign, but they won’t be the first for a Jubilee.
On Tuesday 22nd June 1897, the people of Ripley, along with the rest of the country, shut up shop and prepared for a holiday to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, 60 years after she came to the throne.
On the Sunday, the actual anniversary, there were special church services and a United Sunday Schools demonstration in the Market Place, with banners and the Ripley Silver band playing.
The holiday, though, was on the Tuesday. The streets were covered in bunting and shops competed for the most patriotic window display. At 3pm, the Butterley detachment of the Sherwood Foresters marched from their headquarters to the Market Place, headed by the Volunteer Band. Each man received a shilling in the Queen’s honour.
At 4pm a free tea was provided for all the town’s children in their respective schools, and each child received a mug, made by Bournes of Denby Pottery, and a medal made by Rylands of Birmingham. After the tea there were games on the Derby Road and Butterley Hall fields, and nuts, oranges and sweets were distributed.
The Volunteer band played in the Market Place all afternoon, and the Crossley family provided a “meat tea” for 150 old people in the Public Hall.
At 10pm rockets were set off and a bonfire was lit in the fields off Heage Road: the Butterley Company provided 1500 (yes, 1500) railway sleepers to build it, and it could be seen for miles around.
To round off the day, then as now, there were celebrations in the traditional manner: the pubs stayed open till midnight!