Throughout the nation Her Majesty's 90th birthday has been cheerfully celebrated in a number of ways, including beacons.

One of those commemorations was at Heversham, where I was privileged to be present at the lighting of the beacon on the top of Heversham Head.

This was the ninth such Heversham beacon at which I have been present. The first occasion was Princess Elizabeth's wedding day in November 1947, when I was in the infant class at the village school.

The wedding beacon was on Haysteads, beside The Prince's Way. Because of the severe austerity fireworks were rationed to one per child and we did not use them for Bonfire Night a fortnight earlier.

This restriction led to the son of the grammar school chemistry master nearly being blown up when a Chemi-lab firework exploded.

The next fire was the Coronation bonfire in 1953, which I had the honour of lighting when I was the youngest Boy Scout in the village and when I made one of my first public speeches.

The enthusiasm last Thursday was every bit as great as the other fires for the silver, golden and diamond jubilees and for other royal celebrations.

Roger Bingham

Ackenthwaite