Diamond Jubilee Party Blue Peter

.

-Hello!

-Hello!

-We are having a bit of a party.

That is because it is almost the Queen's Diamond Jubilee weekend,

where families will be celebrating the Queen's 60 years on the throne.

We have got fireworks and everything!

We are kicking off the weekend with our own Diamond Jubilee party,

and you're all invited!

They're enjoying the party, and we have got loads in store for you,

including a new and exclusive song

that will have you giggling for the next 60 years!

They are such legends!

I nearly said "lemons" - wrong word!

Gary Barlow will spill the beans on the biggest party

to hit Buckingham Palace for decades.

Plus, some CBBC faces

who have dropped in to show us how you can celebrate.

We would like you to get in touch and tell us

what you are doing this weekend to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee.

How and where and what are you doing

to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee this weekend.

Drop us an e-mail:

We could read out your message on the TV.

Tell us where you are from, so we can add you to our map.

We have been asking you this question all week,

and Posh Girl from London says,

"I'll just relax, proud to be British."

Let's give her a sticker on London...

-There is one from in West Wales.

-OK.

"I am having a picnic with my cousins."

It doesn't matter what you're doing, as long as you're celebrating.

-The next one, "I'm going to the Lake District."

-I know where that is!

That's Amethyst Great Elf.

This is because of one special lady,

Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II.

Why have her 60 years on the throne been so special?

Brett and Domino are about to tell you.

Right, Jubilee song.

It's the Queen's Jubilee, so we're going to do a song.

-Oh, right. How old is she?

-Hm?

-How old's the Queen?

It's not her birthday, it's the Diamond Jubilee.

Oh, my grandparents had their jubilee last year.

Last September.

-I don't think they would have done. Have you seen the Jubilee on TV?

-No.

Maybe not.

I'll crack on with the song and you can see if you can pick it up.

PLAYS RULE BRITANNIA

TECHNO-STYLE MUSIC

# I'm talking about the Queen, see Diamond Jubilee

# It's a 60 year royal anniversary

# Because the Queen's been queen since 1952

# We're observing this occasion at the start of June

# So everybody, throw your hands up Lift them skywards

# And celebrate the reign of Her Royal Highness

# Because the fact that she's been queen for so long is cool

# But mainly because you get an extra day off school

# It's Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee

# The Queen's been sitting on the throne for the last 60 years

# I mean, obviously she's not just been sat on the throne

# This would cause pretty serious deep vein thrombosis

# In fact, quite the opposite is true, to put it bluntly

# In her life so far she's visited hundreds of countries

# And not just on holiday She's gone away

# Strictly on business. She's even been to Leeds, Leicester and Widnes

# Meeting and greeting important people from all nations

# I wonder how many hands she's shaken since the Coronation... #

-Probably quite a lot, I imagine.

-Yeah.

# So this is Her Majesty's third royal jubilee

# She had a silver one - that's 25 years - in the late '70s

# Then it was golden - that's 50 Are you keeping a tally?

# Brian May played his guitar on top of Buckingham Palace... #

PLAYS PART OF THE NATIONAL ANTHEM

-Oh, I remember that.

-Yeah?

-It was great.

# So what's she going to do this year to celebrate?

# Well, the Diamond Jubilee's the most significant of all of them

# The only other monarch to have had one is Queen Victoria

# There's going to be a concert, a parade, a procession

# A real carnival atmosphere despite the recession

# Wow, that sounds great You've really set the scene

# I'm interested to find out more about the Queen

# Queen Elizabeth was born in 1926

# To Queen Liz, the Queen Mother and King George VI

# She took to the throne when she was 25

# When her dad, King George Sadly suddenly died

# Now, she's head of the state of the United Kingdom

# And Australia, Canada and New Zealand

# In fact, the Queen's the head of 16 states, or nations

# I'll move things on a bit, I see you're losing concentration

# It's Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee

# The Queen's been sitting on the throne for the last 60 years

# She's got corgis She's got horses

# She's got horses and corgis she takes for walkies

# She's married to Prince Philip She's got four children

# And eight grandkids Including Harry and William

# So get out your seats and let me hear you scream

# Cos I'm running out of things to tell you about the Queen

# It's the Jubilee The Diamond Jubilee

# 2012, it's the J-U-B-I-L double E. #

CHEERING

They never let us down.

This is Michael. How are you celebrating?

It is the half-term, so that gives us more time

to spend with our family, and sisters, and parents.

-That is nice.

-I love his face paint. What about you, Grace?

What are you looking forward to?

I am looking forward to spending time with my family,

watching the concert, having a party.

-Josh, why do you like the Queen?

-She is wonderful and beautiful.

What a lovely thing to say. What would you do if you were the Queen?

We sent our travelling throne around the UK to investigate.

Our travelling throne has been gallivanting around the UK

to find out what you would do if you were King or Queen for the day.

I would make the waiting lists at the hospitals shorter.

If I were queen, I would NOT be wearing this right now.

If I was king, I would make everybody have food fights.

I'd get the Queen to go on my skateboard

and I'd push her down a hill.

If I was queen for a day, I would shop till I drop.

If I were king for a day, I would let children rule.

I love it. More from them later.

We had better move, this is a dangerous place to stand!

Still to come...

Stand by for a royal treat, Gary Barlow gives us

the inside story on the pop concert of the decade.

Plus, we take to the water to find out how to prepare

for the biggest boat pageant Britain has ever seen.

Hello, we hope you have a great Diamond Jubilee weekend.

-Have lots of fun!

-Make sure you stay safe and look after yourself.

Enjoy it!

-Have a happy Jubilee party!

-Whoo! The Queen, yes!

Thank you very much! That is beautiful.

Every good party has to have good food and good mates.

Things to keep you amused.

We have got some special guests. Hayley and Ore from Newsround

and Michelle from Deadly Art. We're going to do something very special.

This is very simple, you will see our lovely cupcake toppers.

You've got the face of Ore and Hayley

and lovely Michelle, with her big hair on the top.

I'm going to try and make these.

Go to the Blue Peter website and download these templates.

There's Royal themes, you can print Helen and myself,

whatever tickles your fancy.

Take some scissors, which are buried under here somewhere.

I'm going to do Michelle, by cutting her out like this.

-There's a line you can cut round.

-We do help you out with these things.

Just in case you're not too sure how good you are

at cutting round objects, the dotted lines will help to guide you.

You will end up with something that looks like this.

Michelle is now wearing a hat!

The idea is to get both sides open, flat on the table like that.

You put some glue on one side like this.

Very simply.

While I'm doing this, Hayley and Ore can tell us

-what they're doing for the weekend.

-What are we doing, Hayley?

We're going mad for the Jubilee.

-Everyone is.

-Newsround will be live outside the palace.

-Hopefully I'll get to see the Queen.

-You and Leah will be there.

Yeah, and we'll be outside St Paul's Cathedral

cos there's a big celebration going on apparently(!)

A large ceremony, we've heard.

Your timing is impeccable cos time's up. That's finished,

go and make it. Go to the Blue Peter website for more info.

Now over the last few months, you've probably seen this everywhere.

It is the official Diamond Jubilee emblem. Behind there is Tomor.

Say hello. Hi. Now this emblem has been all over the place.

It's on keyrings, T-shirts, mugs

and its story started right here on Blue Peter.

18 months ago, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee seemed like a long way off.

But when you're organising a host of national events like the ones

happening this weekend, you've got to start planning early.

So when Buckingham Palace contacted us about

a competition to design the emblem

for the Jubilee celebrations, we jumped at the chance.

We want you to design the official emblem of the Jubilee.

The winning design will be everywhere.

It will become the symbol of the celebrations.

And as usual, you lot didn't let us down.

We received more than 34,000 entries of an amazingly high standard.

In fact if we attached every entry together,

they could wrap around Buckingham Palace

22 and a half times.

Which gave us a bit of a problem about how to pick a winner.

-I like that because it's quirky.

-These three.

-I just love this one.

In the end it took 15 judges nearly 200 hours to sift through

each and every one of your brilliant designs...

until we found the one entry that stood out above all the others.

There it is, the official emblem

for Her Majesty The Queen's Diamond Jubilee,

-designed by Katherine from Chester.

-Yes, beautiful!

-She's here today!

CHEERING

-Bang bang!

-Well done, Katherine!

After a bit of fine-tuning, Katherine's final design

was revealed to the nation, looking absolutely phenomenal.

Katherine, there you go, that is your design, the official emblem.

-Are you happy with how it's turned out?

-Yeah.

As if getting to see her design on everything

from teapots to tea towels isn't enough,

Katherine even got to visit Buckingham Palace

to meet the Queen herself.

Hello, very nice to see you. So this is your winning design, is it?

What an amazing prize,

and an incredible story to tell for years to come.

CHEERING

Aw, and here she is, Katherine has joined our party.

-Lovely to see you. You must be very proud?

-Yeah.

Katherine, we've seen your logo everywhere, but in particular,

last week there was somewhere very special.

It was on the British Airways jumbo jet.

We have a picture. Look at that! How incredible!

Congratulations. That must've been so exciting!

-Thank you.

-It'll be incredible. So many things happening.

This weekend sees a boating pageant that'll take over the River Thames,

the likes of which haven't been seen for over 300 years in the UK.

Here's a sneak peek of what you can expect to see.

Sunday's Diamond Jubilee river pageant is going to be massive,

with 1,000 different boats escorting the Queen

down the River Thames in London.

So to give you a taste of what's to come, we're taking to the water

to get the inside story on what it takes

to prepare for such an important event.

Back a bit... Ow!

-Two, six!

-Heave!

-Two, six!

-Heave!

But while this weekend's boat pageant will be

the biggest the Thames has ever seen, it won't be the first.

This is a giant version of a very famous painting

by Italian artist Canaletto, which dates back to the 1750's

and shows a boat parade on the Thames

celebrating Lord Mayor's Day. With no photographs

or video, art was the only way of capturing this kind of event.

The original artwork has been in the Czech Republic

since it was painted over 250 years ago,

but in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee river pageant,

its current owners have lent it

to the National Maritime Museum in London.

The painting's been carefully packed up in Prague

and it's been sealed, and to make sure nobody's interfered with it,

the guys have gone round and checked the stickers aren't broken,

so this should come out completely intact.

I'm here to watch as the experts

unpack this incredible piece of British history.

It is like a Russian doll. It came in a huge case.

We've taken off the outer crate, now we're in the inner crate!

By the time it comes out,

I'm worried it'll be the size of a postage stamp!

Finally open, it's time to check the condition of the paintwork.

Even the smallest dent or scratch will be a disaster.

-We noticed a little fly spot.

-What's a fly spot?

Um, it's a fly poo, politely!

-So a fly's flown in and done its business?

-Well...

-Yes.

I love that this painting was created in 1752,

it's travelled across Europe,

and the one thing causing a problem is a tiny little fly!

Despite one fly in the ointment, it's still in great condition,

and it's brilliant to have it on home turf.

But Sunday's Diamond Jubilee pageant could blow the river party

of 1750 out of the water.

Barney's been to meet the crew on one of those thousand boats.

The Sea Cadets were established over 150 years ago

to encourage young people to develop their team skills

through nautical-based adventures.

This weekend, boats from 55 Sea Cadet units will escort

The Queen down the Thames,

and one of them will be captained by cadets from the Salford unit.

Jordan and Kyle are part of that crew.

Good to see you. Let's talk about Sunday, a big thing. Are you nervous?

-Very.

-Definitely nervous.

What have you been doing to get ready?

Going down the canal, keeping distances, checking formations.

For this Sunday's pageant, all 55 Sea Cadet boats

will move into a diamond formation

to guide Her Royal Highness along the River Thames in style.

It's going to be quite a thing to see.

They won't have performed together before the event,

so I'm here to find out first hand how the crew

have been training to make sure the diamond looks, well, diamond.

You line the boat up where you want it to be,

and I'll just take over and we'll be good to go.

Instead of oars, the cadets are using their motor

to keep a steady speed and to ensure the diamond formation

is evenly spaced.

The boats need to keep exactly eight metres apart.

Am I at the right distance at the front?

The Salford Sea Cadets have been practising

with an eight metre-long rope

but on the day, they'll have to do it by eye.

-Back a bit!

-Back a bit? How?!

Good job I'm not responsible for getting it perfect,

especially as the cadets will have to keep it up

for seven miles and 2.5 hours.

You get a sense when you're doing this of how much the boys

have got to concentrate on

because this is a big day. It's the Queen's Diamond Jubilee

and they've got to be in formation for a long part of that journey

down the Thames.

This is going to look amazing on Sunday!

While Barney experiences the easy life on one of the smaller boats,

I have come to see how much hard work goes into ensuring

that the Sea Cadets' biggest ship takes pride of place on the Thames.

It's choppy at sea, isn't it?!

This is the TS Royalist.

At nearly 30 metres long, she's one of the most famous

and fastest of the Sea Cadets' vessels.

It's so large, she won't be part of the moving boat parade this weekend.

She'll be one of the 40 ships moored on the banks of the Thames

as part of the spectacular avenue of sails for the Queen

to pass on her journey.

The Royalist is normally moored in Portsmouth,

which is on the south coast of England and a four day sail

away from the Thames.

To make sure she gets to the pageant on time,

her crew of Sea Cadets started work very early this morning.

Erica, Jack, a quick word.

I know you guys have been on this ship before, haven't you?

But today is a big day because you're going to set sail to London

so that this ship can be part of the pageant.

That must be a huge honour, Jack.

Yeah, it is. Definitely. My grandad was a cadet.

He is very pleased I am following in his footsteps.

Is there anything that could get in the way of you

-getting to London on time?

-The weather conditions, mostly.

Have you had a look at the forecast?

It should be mostly sunny and hoping for winds.

At 9am it is time for the Royalist to set sail

and I'm going to help the crew on the first leg

of their four-day journey to the Thames.

From Portsmouth, the Royalist will travel east along the coast,

then north towards the mouth of the River Thames,

to her final destination, that is if everything goes to plan.

What else is going to effect your speed?

The tides, do they have an effect?

They can do because we have to dodge a lot of sandbanks on the way up

-along the south coast.

-So you could run aground?

You could, yes. You have to be careful.

I'm sure this crew of cadets wouldn't let that happen.

Right now, I'm counting on their experience

because my first job as Sea Cadet Skelton

is to climb the 24-metre mast to the top to let the sails down.

Bit of a head rush!

If the Royalist is going to reach London in four days' time,

all 11 sails need to be used to their best advantage.

It is amazing up here, isn't it?

You can see for miles, can't you?

With the sales released, it's straight back down the mast.

It's a bit nerve-racking because it's so narrow.

My next duty is to help the crew pull the sails into place.

-Two six...

-Heave!

THEY CHANT

"Two six heave" is a nautical term that helps the crew to pull

the ropes in time with each other. It doesn't make it any easier!

I think that worked. The sail's up!

So with the sails up, the TS Royalist is on course

to reach the Thames in plenty of time.

I am not going to be able to stay on board for her journey to London.

The Sea Cadets are going to drop me back on shore

before they continue along the coast towards the Thames.

But if you are watching the pageant on Sunday,

keep an eye out for the TS Royalist

and the Salford Sea Cadets.

They'll be taking part in this huge extravaganza,

alongside 1,000 other boats.

Back with our travelling throne, and worth finding out

what you love about living in the UK.

I love my country because there are so many nice people in it.

I like living in Great Britain

because I like going fast in my grandad's car.

I love living in Great Britain because you get to meet new friends.

I love living in Great Britain because you can eat your tea,

your fish and chips out of a newspaper.

As you can see, the Blue Peter Diamond Jubilee party

is in full swing. No party would be complete without these two.

Everybody, it's Ian and Kel. CHEERING

You are so welcome, people! You are so welcome!

What are you doing this weekend?

I'm not chatting you up, I'm just asking.

Chatting me up there!

I'm going to Brighton this weekend to hopefully enjoy some sunshine.

-Kel?

-We are filming Friday Download

and will probably have a little party.

We've been asking, how are you celebrating the Diamond Jubilee?

Amethyst says, she is going to be celebrating in the Lake District

-for seven days.

-Ian know where this is.

Pin it on. Joseph is going to be celebrating

with his nanna in West Yorkshire.

Which is here. Never eat Shredded Wheat - West!

Tanzanite is having a picnic with my cousins in west Wales.

West Wales on the map.

Wales is down here. Never eat Shredded Wheat!

Emily, who is in Liverpool, is having a big sleep over

and inviting all of her friends.

You know where Liverpool is.

-Liverpool!

-That was awful!

Charlotte from Cardiff says, "I'm going to a street party

"and I'm going to chillax."

Great word that, isn't it? So that's Cardiff.

Did you take geography at school?!

John in Fife is going to have a big Jubilee party

and wishes we could all go!

That's nice! Love Fife. Lovely part of the world.

Lucy says she is going to a fete in my village.

Let's stick Stratford-upon-Avon on the map, please.

I think we need to correct that.

One of the biggest things happening this weekend is a massive concert,

taking place outside Buckingham Palace.

You can watch it on TV on Monday night,

7.30pm on BBC One.

Such a special event required a special organiser

and we sent Sara Cox along to get the inside story

from the man behind the concert of the decade.

He's in one of the biggest bands on the planet,

he's a judge on the X Factor

and he managed to persuade a group of celebs to climb Kilimanjaro.

So when the palace decided to throw a huge concert

for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations,

who better to get on board and organise it than Mr Gary Barlow?

But even for a big star like Gary, putting on a Royal Concert

is a massive undertaking, especially as he's got a lot to live up to.

Back in 2002, the Queen hosted another mammoth musical festival

for her Golden Jubilee,

where huge stars like Sir Tom Jones from the Voice

and Britain's Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon took to the stage.

So the pressure is really on Gary to up the stakes this time around.

Seeing as the concert is being held outside the gates

of Buckingham Palace,

they've only let me inside to get the gossip off him.

I've been practising my curtsey, just in case I see the Queen!

Yeah, this is very nice, this will do.

This is where I'm going to chat to Gary in a minute.

Out there, on that balcony, is the place William and Kate kissed

on their wedding day.

Here we are.

-Look at this, eh!

-How are you?

-Are you OK?

-Lovely to see you. Come and sit down.

-Nice to see you.

Well then, when you got the call from the Palace

asking you to take on such a huge event, how did you feel?

It was very exciting.

Was a bit of you thinking you can't do it?

I think there always is.

Having seen the Golden Jubilee and how successful that was,

I wanted to make it look different, and feel different

and make it like ten years more improved.

How are you going to do that?

What we have tried to do is span it over 60 years of music,

so we've got somebody from every decade.

In fact, superstars such as Beatles legend Paul McCartney,

pop diva Jessie J,

Brit winner Ed Shearan and top boy band JLS have all agreed to perform

at this momentous event.

How did you get them all to perform?

Did you have them in your phone?

I like the idea of you being like, "JLS..."

A few, a few, yeah.

I knew most of the artists before this concert.

Did anybody say no when you asked them?

No, everybody was so up for this whole show.

It just proves the love for the Queen that everybody

wanted to be part of her celebration.

With the all-star line-up secured,

our Gary knew he had to deliver on a world-class stage,

so the whole concert is being centred around

the historic Victoria Memorial Fountains.

The stage is almost a 360, which means we can have some acts

pointing to the West, some to the north

and some to the east.

So the exchange of putting bands on is a lot easier.

-Good luck with it, Gary!

-Thank you very much.

I'm sure you don't need it.

I think we all need to pray for the weather

because what we don't want is rain.

We need sunshine, we need clear skies,

that would be beautiful.

With all the hard work going into that concert,

I think it's going to be a massive success.

All I need to do now is get myself some tickets. So just...

Hello, Gary Barlow? Yes, it's Sara, hi.

Sara Cox, I just spoke to you.

I'm after some tickets! No? Not even...

Well, just two, so I can bring my mum?

The final question we sent our travelling throne to answer is,

what are you looking forward to in 2012?

I'm looking forward to Euro 2012 because I'm an England fan.

This year we are looking forward to having a street party.

I am looking forward to the Queen's Jubilee this year.

This year I'm not looking forward to doing anything.

I'm looking forward to the Olympics, in particular, the BMX.

This year, I'm looking forward to actually becoming king.

I want a castle as well!

Every king has to have his own castle.

That's just the rules.

If you get a castle, you also get a crown.

We've got to go. We have enough time to tell you about next week.

Take a look. We will get the inside scoop on the Euro 2012 tournament

with BBC Sport's very own Jake Humphrey. He's a nice man.

You can find out what happens when we go on a bit of a road trip

to the two countries hosting the European championships.

I had to eat something not nice.

It was gross! And as you can see, I do a bit of dancing.

Join us live, 9 o'clock, on the CBBC Channel on Saturday morning.

We'll be in Belfast, when the Blue Peter Big Olympic Tour continues.

We've got a massive pop star on the show, so big, we can't tell you.

I've thrown your hat off the balcony. Sorry! That's it from us.

All that's left to say is - Happy Jubilee!