NORTHERN Ireland – together with a site in Donegal – lit up in honour of Her Majesty The Queen last night in a visually stunning series of more than 50 beacons.
The beacons were part of 4,200 Diamond Jubilee beacons that were lit across the globe yesterday, culminating in the Queen lighting the national beacon at 10.30pm.
The first beacon to be lit was in the town of Blenheim in Marlborough, New Zealand, followed by Tonga where a group of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides took part in a ceremony to light their country’s beacon.
Traditionally, beacons were fires lit at well-known locations on hills or high places, used either as lighthouses for navigation at sea, or for signalling over land that enemy troops were approaching, They were famously used to warn of the Spanish Armada approaching in 1588.
In Belfast, the original Millennium beacon was restored by the Department of Social Development for the occasion. It was lit at Lagan Weir on Donegall Quay at 10.25pm by Belfast Lord Mayor Gavin Robinson and Social Development Minister Nelson McCausland.
But the first beacon lit in Northern Ireland last night was at 10pm at the Knockagh Monument in Carrickfergus. This beacon was organised by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors who co-ordinated 47 beacons across the UK in total.
In Co Down, the charity Fields Of Life organised a climb of Northern Ireland’s highest peak, Slieve Donard in the Mourne Mountains, to light another beacon.
Fields of Life - who work to provide clean water and education to communities in war-torn East Africa - lit the beacon at 10.25pm. Politicians, including Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster, DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson and SDLP MLA Conall McDevitt took part in a ceremony at basecamp at Greenhill YMCA at 4.45pm before the climbers set off at 5.30pm.
Some of Northern Ireland’s key beauty spots were lit up by other beacons, including Magilligan Point, by the 1st Northern Ireland Battalion Army Cadet Force; Sion Mills, by the local community association; Topped Mountain in Lisbellaw, by the Fermanagh County Scout Council; St Patrick’s Cathedral, by Armagh Council; The Outlet, by Banbridge District Council; Castle Ward, by the National Trust; Killyleagh Castle; Scrabo Tower in Newtownards; Bangor sea front, by North Down council; Castle Gardens in Lisburn, by the city council; Slemish Mountain, by Ballymena council; and Harbour Hill in Portstewart.
The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Beacons Pageant Master Bruno Peek said that 52 beacons were lit in Northern Ireland in total. He said organisers were delighted with the figure, commenting that it was more than double the number which were lit in Northern Ireland during the Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002.
Street parties continued to take place across the Province last night with one of the largest taking place in the Co Antrim village of Broughshane.
Up to 3,000 people are estimated to have attended with over 1,000 seated at tables and chairs across the main street.
Local accordion and flute bands staged a short parade to the venue which was opened at around 7pm by Ballymena Mayor Hubert Nicholl, along with the Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Co Antrim Stephen Montgomery.
Some of the other events which took place to celebrate the Jubilee yesterday included an old-style tea party at the Ulster Hall in Belfast, a Queen look-a-like parade in Lisnaskea in Fermanagh and a concert in Lisburn.