Help to plan a royal party

A charity's hoping we'll throw street parties to celebrate Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding and get to know our neighbours better.

With people leading busier lives these days, which mean we bump into each other less, Streets Alive reckon it would help build stronger communities.

William and Kate are due to get married at Westminster Abbey on Friday 29 April 2011 in a day that's been earmarked as a bank holiday.  It means workers will get two four-day weekends back to back, with the Easter and May Day bank holidays either side of the wedding day.

In Northamptonshire - where William's mum Diana used to live, on the Spencer family's estate at Althorp - a guide's been produced to help people organise events.

David Mackintosh from Northamptonshire County Council said: "The county has a proud history of celebrating royal events such as this. We thought it was important that as a county council we did everything we could to make sure people across the county feel equipped and able to organise their own celebration events for the wedding.

"Organising something like a street party or a fete can seem very overwhelming with lots of conflicting advice about what permissions are needed, what insurance is required and what licences should be obtained. The idea of this pack is to put all this information in one place to make it straightforward and easy for anyone wanting to get their community together to celebrate the big day."

Northamptonshire County Council's royal wedding street party guide