MARGARET GRAY shares her memories of June 2, 1953 - and the important contribution of Lister’s Mill to the Coronation service in Westminster Abbey:
I was 10-years-old when Princess Elizabeth became Queen. From an early age I followed the Royal family, especially the two princesses. I had a scrapbook and collected royal photographs and newspaper cuttings.
After the war everything was on coupons. Food and goods remained on rations until 1954. As June 1953 crept closer we were swept along with Coronation-mania.
In February, 1952 I went to the corner shop, people were talking about the death of the King. I went quickly home to tell Mum and she put the wireless on. Yes, the King had died and his beloved daughter, in South Africa with her husband, awoke to the news that she was Queen, at the age of 25. What a responsibility on her shoulders!
I followed in the press preparations for the King’s funeral. At picture houses you could watch newsreels of the event. It was so sad and unexpected; the young Queen in black and veiled, with her mother, Princess Margaret, and grandmother, Queen Mary, watching as the Royal Train brought the late King to London where he was laid in state prior to the funeral. After the Royal period of mourning was over, talk of Coronation arrangements emerged. This is what the ‘people’ were waiting for.
Decorations were put up in streets, schools, shops, chapels, our homes. As June 2 drew nearer, street celebrations were organised. Pianos were to be brought out for a knees-up , there were bonfires and fireworks arranged, beacons were to be lit across the UK, celebrating our young Queen. It was a great boost for the nation’s morale. Neighbours pooled rations to make piles of sandwiches, cakes, buns, trifles and jellies for the street parties. Coronations are usually ‘once in a life time’ - the nation was going to celebrate in style.
Coronation Day was granted a Bank holiday. Every school in Bradford was allowed by the Education Committee to choose a souvenir for each pupil. I was at Swain House School, which chose a Coronation mug. Bradford Corporation published a souvenir handbook and each pupil received a copy. I still have my Coronation mug and handbook.
The majority of the working population of 1953 will now have died, and perhaps not many younger people realise the huge part Bradford played in the Coronation. In my handbook from school is a photograph of a fine tapestry, made by Lister`s Mill in Manningham. The article, headed ‘Bradford Can Make It’, reads: ‘Bradford will be well represented in Westminster Abbey by the work of her people’s hand. For every one of the 2,000 chairs and 5,000 stools on which the noble congregation will sit has been covered with material made in the City. The material is velvet and the colour Westminster blue. The Peers, too, with their ladies, may well remember Bradford, for the crimson velvet of their robes has also been made in Bradford. All the velvet has been woven in the world famous Lister’s mills and the seating alone required nearly 4,000 yards of it.
‘The firm is equally proud of its souvenir panel’...’ it has brought orders to Bradford from thousands of people all over the world who feel that as a fire screen, table top or chair back it is an ideal souvenir of a great occasion, from a great City.’
Velvet for the Royal robes was also supplied by Lister`s Mill. Managing Director of Lister’s in 1953, Graham Watson, arranged for the Coat of Arms over the mill entrance on Heaton Road be re-painted for the Coronation and the company`s connection with it. On the roof a Union Jack flew and mill staff enjoyed celebrations. Graham Watson, last of the Watson dynasty to serve Lister’s Mill, was my neighbour in Heaton and prior to his death in 2002 he gifted me various historical items relative to the mill, including his ‘Royal Tapestry’ which I treasure.
It was pouring down on June 2, 1953. Street parties and firework displays were cancelled. Mum and I were invited to a neighbour who had a television. We took a picnic lunch. In the house was a stream of people, we children sat on the floor. It was the first time I’d watched a TV, I was so excited to see this gracious young woman become Queen. Everyone was enthralled. At the end of the service the bells of Westminster rang out across London to cheers of thousands lining the streets. I remember an announcement, as the pageant made its way to Westminster Abbey, that Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing had reached the summit of Mount Everest. It happened on May 29 but the news was held until Coronation Day.
That evening we went to another neighbour’s house; the TV was larger with a second screen clipped on and three sections of panels, pink, yellow and green, so we watched the London fireworks in colour! Our evening turned into a party with drinks and supper. It was still raining when we went home.
The following year our young Queen and Prince Phillip came to Bradford. Schoolchildren were taken by bus to Park Avenue Cricket Ground. We’d been rehearsing songs for the event. We were all given red, white and blue flags to wave. The royal couple toured the ground in an open-topped Jeep. We sang and cheered, the atmosphere was electric. Each school had selected a boy and girl whose names were put in a hat and those pulled out presented HRH with a posy. A girl I went to Sunday school with, June Myers from Bolton Woods School, was selected - what an honour.
The Royal couple left Bradford from Manningham station. I had a second chance to see them as they drove down Kings Road. The Queen has visited Bradford several times since those early days of her reign and always had a warm welcome.
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