On the eve of the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, many ladies of the Big Hill Lodge marked this moment in history today with an afternoon Royal High Tea, complete with fascinators.

It's just one month shy of 70 years since the last British coronation. Most of us didn't witness the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II, and it was even a challenge for many in 1953.

Some lodge residents generously shared their childhood memories of the queen's coronation while enjoying the afternoon tea. 

The 50s was a world without the massive and somewhat invasive mass communications of today. At the time, televisions weren't common fixtures in households.

Claire's family didn't have a television, but she found a way to view it in her birthplace of Belfast, Northern Ireland.

"In those days, very few had televisions. So lots of people went to windows of shops that sold television sets, or they would go to the windows of neighbours houses if they weren't lucky enough to be invited in," she says."We didn't have a television, but I watched it from outside the window of our neighbour," she chuckles.

"People had painted their sidewalk with red, white, and blue chalk. Everybody had their Union Jacks up."

"We hanged our Union Jack out of our bedroom window on the third floor of a terrace house. To get that out the window, we had to tie the cords to the leg of the bed so it would fly properly," she said grinning.

Claire clipped every photo of the queen and royal family she could from newspapers and magazines, then placed them in an album.

"You were especially lucky if you got a glossy magazine. In post-war Britain, there wasn't a lot, but it was good."

She recalls the day Charles was born and did see the queen and the Duke of Edinburgh being driven from the airport one time.

SylviaSylvia was in Pointe-Claire, QC at the time of the coronation.

Sylvia isn't quite certain sure where she saw the coronation.

"But I followed that story. I can't remember if it was on TV or if I read about it, but I followed it. I love that story. The whole family is fascinating."

Her fondest memory of the Queen was during a visit to Canada in the late 50s. She was in Pointe-Claire, QC (just outside of Montreal) at the time.

"She went by and then I realized it was the Queen. She had the only car on the highway, and I wanted to cross to get to the bus stop."

JeanJean, left, believes she still has a special commemorative pencil from the coronation from Queen Elizabeth II.

Jean's family didn't have a television and if they did it wouldn't have helped. There was no television reception at the time in Empress, AB, north of Medicine Hat.

But she cherishes the memory of receiving an inscribed pencil with an image of the queen at school to commemorate the day.

"I remember being so proud of this pencil. I never ever sharpened it," she says, "and I believe I still have it."

Six years later, she saw the queen at the 1959 Calgary Stampede. She and her husband were stopped to allow the queen's vehicle to turn

Like most people, Big Hill Lodge manager Sandra Robin has never seen a coronation. She is proud of her Scottish heritage and believes it's important to celebrate this moment in the history of the British Commonwealth.

"We didn't get to see the coronation of the queen and will be able to experience it for the first time. Many of the lovely people here will be able to experience it again. It's pretty special."

While a few residents and staff said they would be getting up at 2 a.m. to watch it live, most are quite content catching rebroadcast later in the day.