The next Royal event was the Coronation of Queen Victoria, which took place on Thursday, the 28th June, 1838, in beautifully fine weather. Early in the morning the church bells began to peal. All shops were closed by 11.30 a.m., when the children in the town - about 800, including myself - assembled in the Church Causeway; each child was provided with a knife, fork, and mug, and a ticket on which was printed "Victoria, Crowned 28th June, 1838." Headed by the band a procession marched round the town, and then to the Swan Field, so called from its connection with the "Swan Inn," West Street. [...] There were several booths into which barrels and barrels of beer were rolled and quickly consumed by people anxious to prove by their drinking capacity their devotion to the Throne. There was also a temporary wooden bandstand erected, upon which the old Town Band played and drank, and drank and played again. << less