Bill Cawley
MY father recalled an incident on the morning of February 6, 1952 in the mess hall of Stoke Telephone Exchange.
To fully understand the story, you have to appreciate that Port Vale had a keeper called Johnny King. Man walks in to announce: “Ast erd King’s dead?”
Someone got the wrong end of the stick: “Bloody hell, what are the Vale going to do for a keeper now?”. In a way the story serves as recognition of both the Queen’s longevity as ruler and also as a nod to the Valiants’ recent success at Wembley
Funnily enough, football plays a part in the only time I ever saw the Queen. I admit it was from a distance as she stood in a Land Rover at Wolves’ ground Molyneux. reviewing the troops as dad’s regiment Staffordshire Yeomanry received new colours, it would be around 1962.
Of course, I am old enough to recall pivotal moments in the monarch’s life. The investiture of Prince Charles at Carnarvon, the trips to foreign countries, I recall a big deal was made of her first trip to our former enemy Germany in the 60s, the fire at Windsor, the painful business with Diana, the marriages, births and deaths the ways in which her subjects also measure out their lives. Then there were the visits to North Staffordshire, she opened the Hanley Forest Park in 1973, one of the most successful land reclamation projects of its time
I recall previous jubilees as well the silver one in 1977, the weather was glorious although I seem to have spent a great deal of it in a pub in York with fellow students. I doubt whether we were reverential.
In 2002 I was in St David’s in Wales for the Golden Jubilee and more interested in England’s progress in the World Cup played in Japan.
The last one was cursed with wet weather, rather like Coronation Day in 1953. In what I know of her, the greatest quality she has is that of unswerving duty and devotion to the country that she has served with equitable judgement, unvarying consideration and trained sagacity over the decades.
She is also said to have a great sense of fun.
I wonder whether the following story I heard from someone who was there got back to Philip in 1996.
She was in Stoke, opening a retirement village. The Lord Mayor was someone my family knew well – John Birkin. John was known for his gaffes. He presented the leader of Stoke Council, Ted Smith who a few years before had lost a leg to cancer. “Here is Councillor Smith,” he said. “When you were here last, he had two legs.”