SPECIAL services, events, and peals of church bells too numerous to mention are marking her official 90th birthday (tomorrow) this weekend. Today, she will attend a National Service of Thanksgiving in St Paul’s Cathedral, televised on BBC1 at 11 a.m. The choir will sing a specially composed anthem by the Master of the Queen’s Music, Judith Weir.

Other national highlights are Trooping the Colour, an RAF flypast, a carnival parade, and a street party in the Mall for more than 10,000 guests

St German’s Cathedral, Peel, is hosting the Isle of Man’s service; Glasgow Churches Together will celebrate in Glasgow Cathedral. Bristol Cathedral is having a Flower Festival. In Gloucester, Bath, and Carlisle there will be garden, street, and tea parties. The bells of Lichfield Cathedral will ring out before a “big lunch” on the lawns.

St Leonard’s Hospice, York, is hosting a garden party at Bishopthorpe. In Durham, one of nine bouquets (one for each decade) by the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies will be placed at the cathedral.

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