Marple Bridge residents out in force to raise a glass of fizz and chew on a pork pie in honour of her majesty, community spirit and the British way

Sheltering under an umbrella around a watery trestle table at the Marple Bridge street party, Norman Harrison was in a buoyant mood. “Soggy butties, warm beer diluted with rain — what more could you want?” he said, as the rain lashed his bare legs and soaked into his canvas shoes.

“We’ve barbecued in passing blizzards,” added his friend, Tom Morgan. “A bit of rain isn’t going to stop us having a good time.”



The residents of Marple Bridge in Stockport, on the border between Greater Manchester and the Peak District, are an eclectic bunch. Despite 900 people buying tickets for the street party to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday on Sunday, the village is no hot bed of royal love.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Chris Robertson (blue) and his wife, Louise (with purple feather boa), with friends, enjoying the sodden festivities.

At the top of the high street, DJ and record label owner Andy Votel kept playing God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols — the only English language record in a set-list of European music designed to gently subvert the nationalism of the occasion.

Marple Bridge has a long-held anti-authoritarian streak: in 1992 a local woman swatted Margaret Thatcher with a bunch of daffodils when the iron lady came canvassing for votes. Attempts to install a blue plaque to commemorate the occasion have so far come to nought.

Votel looked appalled to be asked if he was a monarchist. “Not at all, not in any way,” he said, tending to a BBQ smoking away by his decks between records. “The minute the union jacks came up I felt compromised,” said his friend, fellow DJ Pete Mitchell.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Regal pork pies topped with piccalilli – by royal appointment?

“But we talked about it, and the event is really about community spirit, not the royal family. We’re not here to make a political statement. What we are doing is very much under the radar.”

Others felt differently. Paula Monaghan, “out of admiration and love”, had come dressed as the Queen, her two-and-a-half-year-old grandson wearing a ruby red crown and a fur-trimmed royal blue cloak over his yellow waterproof. “I think she’s amazing,” she said of the Queen. “All those years of loyal service without a hint of scandal.”

Drinking pink champagne under a leaking gazebo down the road, Rayma Frederiksen was delighted to hear revellers at the Queen’s official party in London were also getting rained on: and that those in the capital had paid £150 for the privilege, compared with her £4 ticket.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tom Morgan (in red) and Norman Harrison (in green) with friends and family, defy the rain … ‘We’ve barbecued in passing blizzards.’

She had dressed up for the occasion, sporting a bonnet with red, white and blue ribbons, matching beads and optimistic white slacks and shoes. “Isn’t this wonderful?” she said, proffering chicken wings hot from her Aga. “I don’t think there is anything that would stop us celebrating.”

Sitting in a camping chair in a union jack cowboy hat with a brim that caught the rain like a moat, Chris Robertson and his wife, Louise, insisted they were having fun. “We will not be beaten,” said Chris, a bursar at an independent school. “She’s only 90 once. We are going to enjoy it.”

Louise, who was wearing a tiara and feather boa, had brought along pork pies topped with piccalilli and pastry crowns. She was keen to share their cosmopolitan picnic. “We’ve got couscous for a continental feel, Serrano ham, artisanal bread, olives, strawberries soaked in Cointreau.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Local residents Rayma Frederiksen and Sean Hayward enjoy the festivities under a leaky gazebo – for the princely sum of £4.

Surveying the scene, Santi G Escandell could only laugh from under his anorak. The Ibizan said his compatriots would have stayed inside in the face of rain so fierce it flooded streets in nearby Stockport.

“They wouldn’t have shown up,” he said. “I’m always impressed with the British spirit. You just never give up. You are determined to have a good time no matter what.”