Excitement and nostalgia at Uckfield Royal Wedding parties

Nostalgia was mixed with excitement at Royal Wedding parties in Uckfield today.

Emma Furlong was five years old when Prince Charles and Diana married and enjoyed celebrations so much then that she wanted to recreate the feeling for her own five-year-old daughter Annabel.

Emma helped to organise a party at Ridgewood Village Hall and was still laying out the food with Kevin Hawkins, Jon Gothard and Sue Gothard when we took our photograph above.

"This is the ideal place to have a tea party and bring the community together. It is also an opportunity to raise extra funds for the hall which we are hoping to extend," Emma said.

At Buxted where about 300 people turned out to celebrate the Royal Wedding Cathy Hemming said it was memories of the Queen's Silver Jubilee that gave her and friend Wendy Beesley the idea of organising the event at the village football field. There was a barbecue and an ice-cream van too. /images/2011_april/royal_wedding_parties_5.jpg

"It is all about giving our kids the same kind of exciting day and it is nice to have a community event," said Cathy.

She is pictured right wearing a red T-shirt holding Emily. With her is Wendy holding Emma and posing with painted faces are Holly Hemming and Carys Smith.

At Hempstead Gardens the neighbours said they were practising for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee next year. /images/2011_april/royal_wedding_parties_1.jpg

"We celebrated New Year's Eve and let off a few fireworks together and decided on the spur of the moment to have a street party for the Royal Wedding said Alan Martin who was one of the main organisers with Kathy Stanley. They are pictured here waving.

Below you can see some of the other guests at the Hempstead Gardens party.

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At Harcourt Road neighours were out from 8am dodging the traffic to string bunting across the road ready for party time later in the day. They had a bouncy castle for children too. Some of the organisers are pictured below.

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