The Twickenham Museum
Exhibitions : People at Play

Other Celebrations
There were plenty of reasons to celebrate other local events

A fete held at Garrick's Vill in Hampton on 9th July 1908
Apart from 'Royal' events such as Coronations and Jubilees there were other local occasions that provided reasons to celebrate. These included ancient customs, occasional outbreaks of civic pride, church parades and more mundane fetes, shows, and fund-raising activities.

One ancient custom was the Beating of the Bounds. In Hampton for example, every seventh year on Ascension Day the Vestry organised the centuries-old custom of perambulating the parish boundaries. During the 19th century this event took place regularly from 1802 until 1893. Then for some unknown reason the next one took place on 7 July 1898, two years early. The last full-scale perambulation took place on Ascension Day in 1905, although there were smaller events in 1913 and 1922. In Twickenham, the ceremony is known to have taken place in 1865, 1870 and 1884.

One occasion of particular civic pride and great celebration in Twickenham was the Charter Day on 22 September 1926. This was the day on which Twickenham's status was elevated from Urban District to Municipal Borough. The Charter of Incorporation was brought down from London and handed to the Charter Mayor, Dr. John Rudd Leeson by the Home Secretary, in Denton Road, East Twickenham. This was the first of several stopping points in various parts of the town at each of which the Charter was read out by the Mayor. The Charter procession finished at York House, which had recently been purchased from Lady Tata to become the new Town Hall. The streets were hung with flags, bunting and banners and festivities included a huge fair in Marble Hill Park.

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