BEACONS across Basingstoke were lit up last night to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

The monarch herself started the process by illuminating the Commonwealth of Nations Globe at Windsor Castle, which sent a river of light to Buckingham Palace, where the Duke of Cambridge watched as the Tree of Trees sculpture was bathed in light.

The palace beacon was one of more than 3,500 around the UK and the Commonwealth, including the Tower of London, Windsor Great Park, Hillsborough Castle, the Queen’s estates of Sandringham and Balmoral, and on top of the UK’s four highest peaks.

In Basingstoke, beacons were lit in a number of locations, including Overton, Hook, Odiham, Preston Candover, Burghclere, Kingsclere, Whitchurch, Crabtree and Sherfield-on-Loddon.

More than 500 people gathered on the Sapley Lane Playing Field in Overton to watch the lighting of the parish council’s Jubilee Beacon. The event was started by Piper Kyle Major playing Diu Regnare followed by trumpeter Simon Ward playing Majesty.

Parish council chair Anne Phillips said: "The beacon was lit at 9.45pm to tie in with beacons across the country. After a rather nail bitingly slow start to the wood catching alight the crowd were rewarded with a blazing beacon."

The beacon was commissioned by the parish council earlier this year and they now hope to use it at other special occasions in the future.

Send your pictures from the beacon lightings to newsdesk@basingstokegazette.co.uk.