‘We worked so hard on Begin The Beguine and she seemed so happy to hear us’
THE REFUGEE
Shreeti Khatani, 54, who fled Ugandan dictator Idi Amin’s rule with her family when she was four, has fond memories of performing with her school band for the Queen 42 years ago.
The young recorder player’s family had moved to Edinburgh, where her dad worked as a bricklayer, after arriving in the UK.
And, aged 12, she was to meet the Queen at Wester Hailes Education Centre. Khatani, who now lives in Derby, remembered: “I was in the school band and our teacher told us that the Queen was coming to see us play. My mother Lalita was delighted as she had met the Queen in 1952 when she was on the tour of Africa shortly before her father
died. We practised our best piece, Begin The Beguine, endlessly to give the performance of our lives in front of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.
“It was all worth it when she clapped loudly for us after the final note was played. The Duke of Edinburgh came over and spoke to us and the Queen did not stop smiling as she scanned all our faces.
“There must have been just over 20 of us in the school band. Because I was just 12 I did not realise the magnitude of meeting the Queen but now realise that I was very priviledged.
“She seemed really kind and pleased to be there and put us all at our ease. Everyone went to great lengths to make the school really good for the visit and the wooden floor was polished like we had never seen it.
“Wester Hailes was an area with its share of social challenges and problems but lit up when the Queen visited.”