Schools gripped by patriotic party fever
Thousands upon thousands of people across the Black Country and Staffordshire have been getting the paper plates and bunting out early to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
And no group has led the charge more than the region's schoolchildren. Parties, assemblies, competitions and art classes have all taken place in schools across the region to honour Her Majesty's 60 years on the throne.
Codsall Big Lunch will take place to mark the occasion tomorrow from 12.30pm at Codsall Village Hall
A village party was held in Bobbingon featuring a concert by youngsters at Corbett Primary School.
St Peter's Primary School in Reservoir Road, have been taking part in a Diamond Jubilee reading campaign and there was a sea of red, white and blue at Little Acorns day nursery in Stafford. Youngsters at Castlechurch Primary School in Stafford held a week of celebrations, including maypole dancing, ending with a presentation for every pupil of a commemorative mug. Up to 100 children took part in a jubilee party at St John's Primary in Weston Road.
Sedgley and Wombourne Rotary Club held its Jubilee concert at Wombourne's Ounsdale High School. Meanwhile, in the absence of the actual Queen, pupils in Tettenhall got the next best thing when they adopted a royal visitor.
As part of jubilee celebrations Woodthorne Primary School treated 85-year-old school volunteer Joan Southall as its monarch for the day.
Mrs Southall, from Perton, is a retired teacher from Warstones Infant School and volunteers at Woodthorne once a week, helping out with reading and storytelling.
She gave a speech to open the school's royal garden party and utilised her well-practised royal wave. Elderly residents teamed up with youngsters for a celebratory tea dance at Bilston CofE Primary, and pupils at Uplands Junior School in Wolverhampton painted their own pictures of the queen. Students at Littleton Green Community School, in Colliers Way, Huntington, held a party.
Youngsters at Brook Primary School, in George Street, Wordsley, dressed as princes and princesses to enjoy their day of patriotic events. It was a double celebration for the school, as the deputy headteacher Elaine Bloomfield is celebrating her silver jubilee.
Meanwhile, 14 children at St Michael's Primary School in Pelsall became kings and queens for the day.
There was patriotic fun at Wordlsey's Ashwood Park Primary School and youngsters at Fair Oak Academy, in Penkridge Bank Road, Rugeley, spent the week decorating the school site in flags and bunting.
