Turn back the clock 87 years and Cuckfield was recovering from another big celebration - George V 's Silver Jubilee. His wife, Mary of Teck was not only the Queen of the United Kingdom but Empress of India. This is how the Mid Sussex Times recalled the previous weekend:

Thank God for the Throne of England, And the King who has ever stood For all that Is true and righteous By a life that Is pure and good.

Praise God tor the Queen so gracious. For the Crown that has raised the cheers From the hearts and homes of England These five-and-twenty years.

There were memorable scenes in Mid-Sussex yesterday (Monday), when old and young, rich and poor, joined with loyal fervour in the paean [a song of praise or triumph] which went up from the whole Empire on the occasion of the King's Silver Jubilee. Not since the Armistice has there been such spontaneous and general rejoicing.

Only a jubilee - and a Royal one at that - could have evoked such jubilation. Each town and each village had its celebration, and in not a few places there are to be permanent memorials to the occasion. Processions, sports, teas for the old folk and children, dancing, carnivals - these were the chief features of the festivities, and everywhere there hung flags and festoons, providing a gay and colourful setting. At dusk the countryside was illuminated by bonfires kindled on the hills, and pyrotechnic displays provided a grand finale to a great day.

Mid Sussex Times, 7 May 1935

Photos Wikimedia public domain imags.

Contributed by Malcolm Davison.