JUBILEE TRIBUTE: Cockfield parish councillors Neville and Brenda Singleton at the newly engraved flagstone which along with three others at the Dixon trough mark four milestone jubilees in the Queen’s reign TM pic
JUBILEE TRIBUTE: Cockfield parish councillors Neville and Brenda Singleton at the newly engraved flagstone which along with three others at the Dixon trough mark four milestone jubilees in the Queen’s reign TM pic

A MAGNIFICENTLY engraved flagstone has been unveiled to mark a major milestone in the Queen’s reign.

Cockfield already boasted three engraved flagstones around its Dixon trough on the village green commemorating the Queen’s silver, gold and diamond jubilees, prompting parish councillors to have work done to a fourth to mark 70 years of the Queen on the throne.

Cllr Neville Singleton said: “What we thought was people were doing their own things like street parties.

“We knew these stones were here and we would pay to get another one done, and that will be here forever.”

Master mason Adrian Hopper, of Auckland Memorials, lifted one of the existing flagstones and carried out the engraving work.

Cllr Singleton said: “He said it was the heaviest stone and the hardest he has ever worked on.

“He has made a hell of a job. He is a brilliant bloke, he doesn’t use any modern machinery, it is all done by hand.”

Mr Singleton, along with his wife Brenda, who is chairwoman of the parish council, washed down all the flagstones ahead of the jubilee weekend and added new plants to the Dixon trough.

The chairwoman chose a rosie-purple hydrangea from the royal collection as the centrepiece, surrounded by purple, pink and yellow petunias.

Cllr Singleton said: “We have had a fair few very good comments from people in the village.”