YORKSHIRE WELCOME FOR QUEEN
Monarch opens new university medical building on her tour of Hull and visits state-of-the-art factory
Queen Elizabeth II was presented with a posy of white roses with rosemary from the gardens of Burton Agnes Hall as crowds greeted her at Hull Railway Station yesterday. The monarch was visiting Hull as it enters the last weeks of its UK City of Culture year.
WITH HER latest greatgrandchild on the way, maybe the Queen has cause to look a little concerned.
Visiting the new Allam Medical Building at the University of Hull during her Royal visit to the city, the Queen saw students taking part in realistic-looking operations – including a Caesarean on a mannequin.
During the visit, the Queen shared a joke with a student nurse about him lying in bed as he pretended to be a patient.
Lecturer Mags Guest said to the Queen: “We’re using Craig, one of our student nurses, as a patient.”
The Queen smiled as she said: “Sometimes it’s alright, I suppose.”
And she laughed when Mrs Guest said: “He gets to spend a day in bed.”
As Craig, from Bridlington, was given a glass of water to take his fake drugs, the Queen said to him “I hope it’s just water” and laughed along with the students gathered around his bed.
The Queen, who was wearing a Stewart Parvin Air Force Blue cashmere coat and a matching hat by Rachel Trevor Morgan, officially opened the Allam Medical Building, which is at the heart of the university’s £28m health campus.
Professor Julie Jomeen, the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Hull, said: “The Allam Medical Building will transform the way we teach the next generation of health professionals, giving them the very best opportunities and training to deliver the healthcare of the future, and enhancing their student experience considerably.”
Earlier there were cheers from the waiting crowds as the Queen arrived at Paragon Station.
The Queen, who was in the city to mark its City of Culture year, was presented with a posy of white roses with rosemary from the gardens of Burton Agnes Hall by Islay Cunliffe-Lister, 11.
She smiled as she stopped to chat to some of the hundreds of people who had gathered at the railway station.
Evie Allen, ten, from Inglemire Lane, Hull, who there with her mother Naomi, said: “It’s really good she is here, because she is 91.
“It must be really hard to travel and she has come all the way from London. She must have got up really early this morning.”
She spoke to 11 people who have been involved in City of Culture Creative Communities projects, including artist Leonard Brown, who pointed out to her the full-scale replica of Amy Johnson’s Gipsy Moth, which was built by prisoners from Hull Jail and is now hanging from the roof of Paragon Station.
She must have got up really early this morning. Evie Allen, ten, who, with her mother Naomi saw the Queen at the railway station.
The Queen also spoke to the head of Stepney Primary School Paul Browning, whose pupils have been involved in a project creating steel statues outside the former Stepney Station.
Mr Browning said: “She is just lovely. She exudes warmth, You often see her on TV and she looks a bit sombre but when you meet her she is just delightful.
“Our children are really enthusiastic about City of Culture. It has done a lot for raising aspirations and giving them a wider outlook.”
The city has seen hundreds of events since the year-long celebrations began in January.
It is set to end on a high with a number of exciting installations, including a kinetic artwork involving robotics and light by Jason Bruges Studio.
One of the most high-profile events was Blade, which saw a 250ft long wind turbine blade installed in Queen Victoria Square. The Queen visited the new Siemens factory and the state-of-the-art production line where it was built. She spent about half an hour in the factory and was shown a scheme aiming to encourage young people into engineering.
Josh Paddison, 17, who had the unenviable task of safely driving the car a very short distance in front of Queen, said she had recalled her days as a mechanic in the 1940s. He said: “She was really interested and said it was good to see young female engineers on the project, saying she used to do work as a mechanic when she was younger.”