The weather is heating up, and so that means it's time to don the sunhats, lather up in sun cream and get our pasty legs out for some much-needed sun.

 There is plenty to celebrate this month, so let's start right from the top with:

The Queen celebrates her Platinum Jubilee

HRH the Queen was never actually an intended monarch. It was only through her uncle's abdication that the crown passed to her upon the death of her father, King George. Officially crowned at the age of 25 in 1953, she is also an official record breaker: she has reigned longer than any British Monarch in UK history. Her great-great Grandmother Victoria, reigned for 64 years.

A staggering 27 million people were thought to have watched the coronation, back in times where it was an extremely rare occurrence to have a television set: people who remember tell tales of whole groups of families huddled around a tiny black and white set.

Coronated right at the end of mandatory food-rationing, Queen Elizabeth has seen a total of fourteen Prime Ministers, all of whom she met and continues to meet weekly to discuss the affairs of the country. Her official role even includes being Head of the Armed Forces and Defender of the Faith.

This weekend saw thousands of people come out into the streets in droves to hang up bunting and stock up on tea and scones, all brought together to celebrate this momentous occasion. 

Out in the streets is another popular slogan belonging to a movement that is being celebrated this month.

Fifty years of London Pride

 On the 1st of July 1972, London officially held its first UK Gay Pride Rally. This date was specifically chosen to be the closest Saturday to the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. 2000 participants doesn't seem like all that much by today's standards, but homosexuality had only been decriminalised just five years previously. Tensions were still high but year after year Pride has maintained its colourful presence in our cities, providing safe spaces and connections for the LGBTQ+ community across the country. In 2004, Pride London was officially awarded charity status.

 London may be the capital city, but cities all across the UK celebrate Pride. If you want to find a Pride event near you, here is a handy calendar. If you are or know an LGBTQ+ person that need support or a network, we have collated a list here of both local and national support services:

• the NHS official website has many mental health support services for LGBTQ+ people.
• The official Stonewall website has many networks on their handy list, providing all types of support across the country.
• Sayit Sheffield - emotional wellbeing support for young LBGTQ+ people in Sheffield.

What else is coming in June?

We've all done it: endlessly thumbing up our phone trying to find something interesting to do on the web or social media. It's practically infinite in terms of content and yet it always seems so hard to find something quick and easy to do that you can also benefit from! 

Well, we may have a solution for you, in the form of a little quiz titled:

What's the easiest thing to do on the internet these days?

How about enter our competition?

All you have to do is visit our Facebook page. And like, tag and share this post. That's it. No messing around, no extra steps; you can do it all from the same browser page even! By doing so you get automatically entered into our competition to win... well, we're keeping that secret for now! There is a teaser lurking on our social media pages, actually, perhaps you can guess what it is from it? This competition will close at Midnight on the 17th of June, but that doesn't mean we don't have more tricks up our sleeve this month! We're just getting started! 

Keep posted for many more exciting giveaways throughout this month and next. Sometimes we might want you to like our page, sometimes you get entered just by buying something from us! We like to keep our competitions fresh and exciting for you, because who doesn't like free stuff?

However you celebrate with your family and friends this June, we want to wish you all a great time and let's hope the weather holds... 🤞