HUNTINGDONSHIRE joined the rest of the country to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee with the lighting of beacons across the district.

St Ives, Huntingdon, Ramsey, and St Neots were just four of the more than 4,000 cities, towns and villages across the UK that lit a beacon for the Queen at exactly 10.15pm.

There was no countdown in Huntingdon, but as mayor Colin Hyams lit the town’s beacon, the sky lit up with a 15-minute firework display watched by around 600 spectators on Castle Hill.

The mayor led a procession through the town of councillors and residents to the sound of a bagpipe as they made their way from the Town Hall to the beacon lighting event.

At the end of the fireworks, the spectators cheered for the Queen.

In St Ives, All Saints’ Church warden Barry Wills lit the town’s beacon on the church roof as onlookers watched on from the graveyard. Hail Weston also set fire to a bonfire in front of a large crowd.

The Queen lit the last beacon, a six-foot flame in front of Buckingham Palace, at 10.30pm. Her husband, Prince Philip was absent as he was taken to hospital earlier in the day with a bladder infection.