Duke had a taste of town
of the Royal party’s route as they drove slowly from the railway station via Station Street, Union Street and New Street to the Abbey Gardens, where Her Majesty met civic heads and tenants from her Duchy of Lancaster estate before unveiling a commemorative plaque and planting a lime tree to mark her visit.
The year 2002 was a special year for all involved as it also marked the 1,000th anniversary of brewing in the town and the 25th anniversary of the Bass Museum opening.
The town’s breweries always support the Royal Family with special commemorative brews and 2002 was no exception with the Queen and Prince Philip starting the mashing process for their own Royal Ale before Prince Philip gave one of the famous Bass shire horses a bucket of ale to slurp.
To enable The Queen and Prince
Philip to see as much of the town as they could, they went their separate ways midway through the tour with the Queen heading to the Brewhouse arts centre in Union Street and the Duke to the Marmite factory in Wellington Road.
Upon arriving at Unilever-best Foods, which also manufactures Bovril, His Royal Highness was treated to a warm reception in one of the plant’s conference rooms, where he was introduced to a bevy of senior staff, retired employees and members of the public.
The Royal was greeted by Deputy Mayor of East Staffordshire Tom Dawn and his wife, chairman of Unilever, Richard Greenhaulgh, chairman of Unilever Best Foods UK, Gavin Neath, and plant manager of Unilever Best Foods Burton, Mark Wearing.
Among those presented to the Duke were retired employees noted for their many years of service to the company.
These included Reginald Hunt and Dennis Ford, who had worked for the company for 51 and 50 years respectively.
During the reception, the Duke saw a collection of Marmite memorabilia and was invited to view a one-minute promotional video for the product. His Royal Highness was also invited to unveil a plaque commemorating Marmite’s centenary. First port of call on the Duke’s tour of the plant was the tasting department.
During this time, the Royal was given a demonstration of the tasting procedure by various members of staff who sipped a pure liquid form of Marmite before completing forms for analysis.
As he watched, the Duke commented: “Do you ever get sick of the taste at all?” Microbiology technician Shaun Mcgauran, who was one of the tasters, told the Prince they did not tire of it as tasting was a not a full-time occupation. Before leaving to rejoin The Queen at the National Arboretum in Alrewas, the Duke was shown the plant’s outdoor peat and heather filter.
In November 2016, the Duke of Edinburgh unveiled a £20,000 monument dedicated to badly injured and burned servicemen and women who are part of the Guinea Pig Club at the now National Memorial Arboretum, in Alrewas.
The Duke, president of the Guinea Pig Club, met surviving members of the organisation and their guests in the arboretum’s Remembrance Centre as part of a service at which the monument to the club was dedicated.
During a visit to Marmite in 2002, the Duke asked: “Do you ever get sick of the taste at all?”
The front cover of the Ind Coope Burton Brewery magazine ‘The Burton Herald’ reporting on the Duke of Edinburgh’s visit in December 1995