Crowds pack the streets for the royals’ whistle-stop tour of Worcestershire
Photographs from the Fifties show Queen and Duke in Dudley
THE visit of the Queen and Prince Philip to the Black Country on St George’s Day, 1957, left a lasting impression – readers regularly share their memories of the day the royal couple spent the day here.
Reader Laurence Brownhill has retained a collection of glossy photos from the Dudley part of that visit, as well as a souvenir programme from what was officially called their Worcestershire visit ... even though some of it actually took them into Staffordshire.
The programme goes into great detail about where the monarch would be at pretty much every minute of the day, and demonstrates the amount of detailed planning that has to go into such events.
At 10am the royal party arrived at Hagley Station, where they were received by the Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire, Admiral Sir William Tennant.
Ten minutes later they were at Hayley Green, Halesowen, where they were taken on a slow drive through the crowds in the royal car; passing through Hasbury, down Spring Hill, into Hagley Street, then along the High Street and up to Mucklow Hill, where they made their first visit, to Walters Somers’ forge.
Here the Queen and the Prince met the Mayor, Philip Timmins, and were presented to various ‘leading citizens’ and higher-ups from Walter Somers Ltd, in a specially erected marquee.
After a tour of the works they were whisked away to Oldbury, arriving at the council house at five to midday to meet the mayor, councillors and ‘prominent citizens.’
In less than half an hour they were off again, heading for Dudley, with the briefest of stops at Rowley Regis to meet the chairman of the Urban District Council. Then back into the car, up to Burnt Tree and up Castle Hill to the top of The Broadway, and the huge waiting crowd at
Coronation Gardens.
Here at 12.55 they were met by the mayor and other Dudley dignitaries, and the Queen received a bouquet from a local schoolgirl.
At 1 precisely the royal couple climbed the Council House steps and met past mayors and their wives, and MP George Wigg.
Then it was inside and upstairs for lunch, before a brief appearance on the balcony to wave at the crowds who had waited patiently on the street outside and packed the adjacent gardens.
At 2.30 the mayor waved the royal car off as it headed in the direction of Brierley Hill, and the Stevens and Williams glassworks, for a 40 minute tour.
The royal car then made its way down Brettell Lane through Amblecote and on into Stourbridge, where its occupants met the Mayor and Mayoress at the Council House, where, not to be missed out, the chairman of Amblecote Council was also waiting to be presented.
The Queen and Prince inspected ‘a fine collection of cut glass’ and were presented with a set of glasses and an engraved jug bearing the royal arms, before heading off to Mary Stevens Park in a Land Rover, the better to be seen by the crowds gathered there.
Then after a hectic day it was time to leave the Black Country. At 4.25 the head of state left the park via the main gate and headed to Kidderminster, via Broadwaters, Chester Road and Land Oak Island, arriving on the steps of Kidderminster Town Hall at ten to five. There they were presented, of course, with a carpet, before leaving for the railway station and a train to Worcester.
At 9pm they joined 400 guests at the Guildhall, presumably for dinner, before finally rejoining the royal train at 10.30pm.