The full moon rose into the clear night sky above Low Farm as the flames took hold of
the beacon. At the required 10.01 pm the beacon had been expertly lit as the culmination to the village’s Diamond Jubilee event. It was the sort of event that Brampton does best. The mood was relaxed and friendly – an afternoon and evening mixture of party, barbecue and picnic had been going on all evening at Low Farm.

It was almost a almost a tribal gathering. Hosted by Kiwi Andy and by Jill. Andy, clearly an expert in outdoor living, conjured fire at the right moments, whether it be barbecue, fire-pit or beacon. Others had cast a little magic, Jilly and her superb cakes and a particularly potent mix of Pimms from the shed-girls. There were renewals of acquaintance and the  grape vine of conversation was re-established.

Over the evening, over eighty people dropped by and most stayed until the end in order
to see the beacon lit as part of the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution’s country wide chain of Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Beacons. There was no doubt that the Brampton beacon could be seen and there was a palpable element of pride felt in taking part.

We remembered Joyce, who surely would have like to have been there. Low Farm, so
long her home with her late husband Stanley Vincent, still managed to generate memories as I walked over the mown grounds on what were once the vegetable and flower gardens of the old house.

The village has changed and become younger again, but it has somehow managed to retain something of it’s original independent spirit. They do things differently here. An event all falls in place quite naturally. Some but not too much planning and a collective effort serve to create a new memory and the parting comment that it had been “…great fun and we must do something similar next June”.

[Photos to come]