Get ready for the Jubilee Bank Holiday and take a look back in time to 1950s Edinburgh with our special Whose Town? 1950s exhibition on Capital Collections.

Here a street party is in full swing in Gorgie. All over Edinburgh residential streets were decorated with balloons and bunting on Coronation Day, Tuesday June 2nd 1953. After months of fundraising, the big day for the street’s celebrations had arrived. Tables were set up in the streets and children wore paper hats and played games such as pitching a lucky ball through the porthole of a model ship. Food consisted of cold ham and salad for the adults washed down with tea, while children enjoyed buns and cakes with lemonade. Singing and dancing went on for many hours.

The city centre was decorated with flowers and banners and buildings were floodlit. For 48 hours leading up to the day, there was a programme of events, including a ball in the Assembly Rooms and a Youth Vigil Service. Coronation Day was a holiday for almost all citizens, with bus and train services reduced and shops closed and no mail deliveries. As well as street parties, those lucky enough to own a television, organised parties in their homes to watch the ceremony. The day ended with spectacular firework displays and bonfires lit on the surrounding hills of the city.

Visit Whose Town? and hear Bill’s memories of growing up in Edinburgh and how he got the day off school to join the Coronation celebrations.