JUBILEE celebrations moved into top gear across the district as the community came together to mark the huge occasion.
In Braintree and Witham, there were a variety of street parties, events, festivals, and more for residents to get stuck into.
The festivities began on Thursday with the Royal Flypast, which saw scores of aircraft from the Royal Navy, Army, and Royal Air Force soar over Feering, Kelvedon, Rivenhall, and Witham on their way to London and Buckingham Palace.
On Thursday, evening beacon-lighting events took place across the district, and in Witham, the beacon was lit by constituency MP Priti Patel.
There were also beacon lighting events in Rayne, Wethersfield, Witham, Steeple Bumpstead, Gosfield, and Halstead, among others.
Braintree’s Festival in the Gardens took place across three days from Friday at Braintree and Bocking Public Gardens and entertained crowds with musicians, comedians, and more.
On Friday evening, the Braintree Male Voice Choir was joined by the Essex Police Band and Hedingham Singers to perform a concert at St Andrew’s Church in Halstead.
There were also plenty of street parties in Braintree, Witham and surrounding villages and parishes across the four-day celebrations.
Essex Police were also on hand across the district for the whole weekend and thanked residents for staying safe and inviting them to get involved with celebrations.
A spokesman for the police said: “We’ve had a lot of fun being involved and are pleased that there were no issues at any event. We hope you all enjoyed the weekend as much as we did.”
Braintree Council communities boss Frankie Ricci added: “It was truly wonderful to see so many celebrations happening across the Braintree district during the bank holiday weekend to honour and celebrate Her Majesty the Queen and her incredible 70 years of service to our country.
“I want to extend a huge thank you to all of the residents, businesses, community groups, and parish and town councils for organising some fantastic events for our communities over the weekend.
“It was wonderful to see so many people enjoying themselves and celebrating this momentous occasion at local beacon-lighting ceremonies, street parties, festivals, fetes and so much more.
“The jubilee spirit really did shine in the Braintree district to honour our Queen.”
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