In the run-up to the much-anticipated jubilee, residents and staff at Colten Care homes in Dorset have been busy gardening, making decorations, knitting royalty-themed tea cosies, rehearsing songs to perform and planning games.

The homes will be hosting ‘street parties’, complete with bunting and flags over the extended bank holiday weekend in June.

The residents have been helping with the decorations and reminiscing about the Queen’s coronation.

At The Aldbury in Poole, resident Joyce Holden has taken on the challenge of colouring in 70 Union Jacks to mark the 70 years of the Queen’s reign. She said: “I do love colouring and I’m looking forward to seeing them all strung together for our Jubilee garden party.”

Barbara Phillips, who lives at Brook View in West Moors, said: “My dad went out and bought a television specially to watch it. I remember it being a very wet day.”

Joan Vohra, from Fernhill in Longham, said: “I’m Welsh, and Welsh people are very patriotic. We had street parties for the coronation. She visited villages in Wales where I come from in an open car and was waving at us. It was truly fantastic.”

Fellow resident Elizabeth Wilson said: “I was very young to remember the coronation but my school made a big thing of it. I like the Queen. She does a wonderful job. She is a very good representative of the country.”

Each home will also be planting a commemorative jubilee tree.