The Queen’s Garden Party, 22nd May 2012, Buckingham Palace, London
Four volunteers from Shanklin Theatre were asked to attend the first Buckingham Palace Garden Party of the summer, basked in baking sunshine the temperatures soared to 24c.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were in attendance and were joined by the Duke of York, the Princess Royal, the Duke of Kent, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, Princess Alexandra the Hon Lady Ogilvy and the Duchess of Gloucester.
Representing Shanklin Theatre at the royal residence on Tuesday 22nd May were active volunteers: Vivien Howell, Alana Bird, Derek Pegram and Michael Beston, “we were very proud indeed to be alongside 8,000 guests from all over the country and from every walk of life”.
We were asked if we would like to be introduced to Princess Anne the Princess Royal, of course we accepted! We spoke to her about the theatre and how it had been saved from closure by a very dedicated and hard working group of friends, supporters, volunteers, supervisors, theatre staff, directors and trustees.
Shanklin Theatre had been nominated for the Queens Award for Voluntary Services 2012 back in March this year, on the 1st June it was announced by Buckingham Palace that Havenstreet Railway and Shanklin Theatre had both been awarded the QAVS, the formal presentation by the Duke of Gloucester will take place on the 3rd July at Osborne House.
