Parents party in Oxford to celebrate the Queen’s Coronation

We have published 18 photographs of street parties and other celebrations from 1953 in the past month – and here is yet another.

It comes from reader Pat Ross, of Bowness Avenue, Headington, and shows mums and dads enjoying themselves outside their homes in Cornwallis Road, Cowley.

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She and fellow former resident, Linda Peach, of Vicarage Road, Kidlington, have named many of those in the group.

Among them are their parents – Eleanor and Wesley Laverty and Lucy and Ivor Poulter, respectively.

Others they recognise include Mary and Dennis Barson, Audrey Hutchinson, Jeanne Philpott, Kit Steele, Charlotte Parker, Mrs Thelwell, Mrs Holden, Mrs Woods and Mrs Binstead.

Can we name any more?

Parents enjoyed their party, but they weren’t the only ones to celebrate in Cornwallis Road – like many others in the city and county, their children had their own party.

As we have recalled, many communities marked the Royal occasion not only with parties but with carnivals, parades, races and competitions.

Many readers remember watching the Coronation on a neighbour’s television screen – many families had no TV of their own at that stage.

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The televising of the Coronation was a significant factor in the increase of TV sets in public use, and in March 1953 figures for combined sound and television licences were given as 2.1 million compared with 1.4 million the year before.

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