The Golden Jubilee celebrations continue at East Hagbourne with St Andrew's Church fete on Saturday.

Joe Corderoy, with his wife Janet and the flag

Villagers, especially children, are being encouraged to dress up as royalty for a procession through the village at 2.15pm, led by Jack Sinclair's Jazz Band.

The annual fete will take place at the home of Basil Pryor at Highmead, Church Close, at 2.30pm, where stallholders and stalls will continue the royal theme.

On show will be a Red Ensign flag which was first flown to mark the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

Having been hoisted aloft to mark a good many jubilees and occasions for national celebration, including VE Day, the Corderoy family heirloom is now too fragile to be run up a flagmast. Joe Corderoy, 66, of Hagbourne Mill Farm, said: "It will be on display at the fete. But as it is becoming more threadbare with the passing years, it would be too risky to fly from a flagpole."

Why Mr Corderoy's grandfather, the late William Corderoy, should have flown the Red Ensign flag of the Merchant Navy is a family mystery.

"So far as I am aware, no one in the family served in the Merchant Navy," said Mr Corderoy.

William Corderoy was one of eight sons of Justus Corderoy, whose family have lived in Blewbury and the surrounding area since the 17th century.

Last Monday, the flag adorned a wall of the Village Hall, East Hagbourne, for the joint East and West Hagbourne Jubilee celebrations.

The event included a picnic and novelty sports at Hagbourne Primary School. The assistant curate, The Rev David Platt, and his wife Jill held a singalong at a pensioners' tea party in the Village Hall, followed by a barn dance and fireworks.

Monica Lawson, chairman of East Hagbourne Parish Council, said: "It was a wonderful day when people from both villages celebrated the Jubilee together."