On 21st April, Forbury residents joined together for an afternoon in honour of the 90th birthday of H M Queen Elizabeth II. We sang patriotic songs, shared memories of royal events and offered a toast to the Queen. Thank you especially to Muriel P for playing The National Anthem for us on her mouth organ!
Carrie and Kay remembered the Queen visiting Leominster on 24th April 1957. They both saw the Queen arriving in her royal train. The Queen, however, didn’t come out of her train! She stayed in her train overnight at Leominster railway station. Kay rushed out from work to watch for the Queen, returning later to face questions from her boss.
In the summer of 1977, Queen Elizabeth celebrated her Silver Jubilee, after 25 years on the throne. Cora and Carrie remembered the street parties in Leominster when Cora danced in the street. In 1977 the Queen travelled through Stockport in her royal train. Muriel P ran down to the railway line near to her home and waited for the train. The train came past, but to Muriel’s disappointment, all the blinds were drawn down in all the windows!
Carrie’s husband was in the Grenadier Guards. Carrie accompanied him to Buckingham Palace for a garden party with the Queen. She described how the Queen always wore white gloves, even whilst she was eating sandwiches! Cora had an Uncle who attended a royal garden party.