A HUGE event celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee is planned for Abingdon airfield following 'utter chaos' on fireworks night.
Xplosive Events Ltd is hosting the 'Abingdon Airfield Platinum Jubilee Fiesta' on June 4.
The programme includes tribute acts for Queen, Spice Girls and Rolling-Stones headliners the Counterfeit Stones. There will also be air acrobatics shows and fireworks displays.
In November, 'hundreds' of families were left waiting in 'hours' of queues with 'crying children' after they couldn't get into a firework show run by Xplosive Events.
The fireworks show was held at Dalton Barracks, near Abingdon, and people complaining said there was ‘not enough toilets’, the fireworks didn’t start on time and the event was ‘well beyond capacity’.
At the time, Xplosive Events said the problems were partly down to ‘film sets on site’ closing two of the entrances.
Tickets for the Jubilee event are now on sale but strictly limited, following chaos at a fireworks display hosted by the company that saw families wait for hours queuing to get into the event.
Director of Xplosive Events Ltd, Karl Mitchell-Shead said: “Because a lot of stuff was cancelled in the local area, we were just inundated with people that turned up on the gates that we were not expecting. It put massive pressure on us.
"We have run dozens of events up there and generally they have all been very successful.”
He added: “We are strictly limiting tickets on this event because we do not want to be inundated with people.”
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Xplosive Events is eager to put on a huge celebration for the Abingdon community now Covid restrictions have eased. Organisers say there will be no need for Covid passes at the door or social distancing but there will be hand sanitiser stations.
Mr Mitchell-Shead said: “It is the biggest Jubilee event going on in the area. We wanted to give everybody the opportunity to come together in one place and do it in style.”
He added: “There is a huge appetite for events now. It is great to be able to do things without so many restrictions now and just getting back to what we do best.”
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Families will be able to enjoy a huge fairground, entertainers, and Abingdon Local Excellence Market’s biggest ever local trader’s market.
Mr Mitchell-Shead said: “We are encouraging people to come along with a little camping table and chairs, either bring a picnic with you or grab food from traders on site and just sit down chill out and listen.”
Tickets for the event are now one sale with family tickets, camping and gazebo permits also available via the Xplosive Events website.
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