EVERYONE looks forward to our yearly Bank Holidays and now it has been confirmed we have an extra one to add to the calendar in 2022.

It's because of the Queen's upcoming Platinum Jubilee, to mark her 70-year reign.

Her Majesty will have been on the throne for a record-breaking seven decades on February 6, 2022.

It is a milestone no other British monarch has reached before and a four-day weekend will mark the big event, with the May Spring Bank Holiday moving to Thursday, June 2 and an additional Bank Holiday introduced on Friday, June 3.

A packed programme of events is expected and, to mark the news, we're hopping in our time machine to remember the Queen's visit to Colchester in May 1985.

Gazette:

The crowds turned out in force to see her Royal Highness, who visited the University of Essex and saw a library book exhibition and telecommunications building before going to lunch at Colchester Town Hall where she was served by catering students from Colchester Institute.

She appeared on the balcony to the delight of the crowds and collected posies as she walked along Colchester High Street.

Crowds of people six deep cheered as she drove away in a glass-topped Rolls Royce.

The Queen then officially opened Colchester General Hospital in Turner Road.

Gazette: Gazette: Gazette: Gazette: Gazette: Gazette: Gazette: