Dear Editor,

SATURDAY 6 May 2023 was a day of historic prominence, it being the day King Charles III was crowned King in Westminster Abbey, and we finally slipped from the Elizabethan era into the Carolean era. 

This was the first time in 70 years such an event occurred, and it will be a once in a lifetime event for many. Regardless of whether people are royalists or not, this day will go down in the pages of history, become part of the fabric of our nation, and we were all there to witness it.

Woking’s local villages were festooned in abundance with red, white and blue bunting. Shops had lovely window displays. Post boxes sported exquisite toppers, knitted with great skill, each one portraying aspects of this momentous royal event.

West Byfleet had legions of knitted soldiers, proudly on duty on every available bollard, lining the roads from Waitrose to Camphill Club.

Street parties were held in the villages, on the recs and in people’s homes, all joining together to celebrate this historic event, and many glasses of bubbly were raised whilst toasting the new King. The celebrations continued Sunday with the concert at Windsor Castle, followed by a welcome bank holiday Monday.

Picture my surprise and disappointment then when I arrived in Woking early Saturday morning, the morning of the Coronation no less.

Was there bunting cheerfully waving in the breeze in the town square? No. Was the Peacocks centre awash with red, white and blue? No, it wasn’t. Cawsey Way? No. Surely the High Street would be flying the flag, so to speak? Unbelievably not.

There was nothing. Not a single stretch of bunting anywhere, nothing to mark the occasion at all by Woking Council. Just empty space and resounding indifference echoing off unadorned concrete on all sides.

We all know WBC have run themselves into dire straits financially, but are things really so bad they can’t even stretch to a few lines of bunting to mark this historic occasion?

Poor show WBC. You really should have done better.

Amanda Goldsmith, by email

* WOULD you like to have seen some bunting in the town centre to mark the royal occasion? Or do you feel WBC should be saving money wherever possible, given its financial position and the cuts to come in the year ahead? Have your say below in the comments, or send a letter to the News & Mail, via [email protected].

For more readers' letters and local comment, see the 11 May Edition of the newspaper, in shops now.