[Submitted via press release]
The Diamond Jubilee River Pageant and Jubilee concert to be broadcast on SABC3
Celebrations for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee events are kicking off this month. As part of the Jubilee festivities, SABC3 will be airing live broadcasts of The River Pageant and The Diamond Jubilee Concert.
The River Pageant takes place on Sunday, June 3 and will air at 15:00. This will be one of the largest flotillas ever assembled on the River Thames. Rowed boats and working boats and pleasure vessels of all shapes and sizes will be beautifully dressed with streamers and Union Flags, their crews and passengers turned out in their finest rigs.
The armed forces, fire, police, rescue and other services will be afloat and there will be an exuberance of historic boats, wooden launches, steam vessels and other boats of note.
The flotilla will be bolstered with passenger boats carrying up to 30,000 flag-waving members of the public placed centre stage (or rather mid-river) in this floating celebration of Her Majesty's 60 year reign.
The spectacle will be further enhanced with music barges and boats spouting geysers. Moreover, there will be specially constructed elements such as a floating belfry, its chiming bells answered by those from riverbank churches.
The opening ceremony of London's Olympic Games will be just six weeks away and the public that crowd the riverbanks and bridges will give a rousing reception to the many boats that have travelled from far and wide to represent UK port cities, the Commonwealth countries and other international interests.
Downriver of London Bridge, there will be a gun salute and the flotilla will pass through a spectacular avenue of sails made by traditional Thames sailing boats, oyster smacks, square riggers, naval vessels and other impressive ships.
The Diamond Jubilee Concert will be on 4 June at 21:00 and airs live too. This will take place in front of Buckingham Palace on a fabulous stage, specially designed for the event.
The BBC and music maestro Gary Barlow are bringing together some of the biggest names from the worlds of music, dance and musical theatre - including Shirley Bassey, Alfie Boe, Jools Holland, Jessie J, JLS, Elton John, Tom Jones, Lang Lang, Annie Lennox, Madness, Paul McCartney, Kylie Minogue, Cliff Richard and Ed Sheeran.