Prince Edward made pupils from St Werburgh’s and St Columba’s Primary School burst out laughing when he told them he hoped his visit to Chester gave them 'all an excuse to escape from school’.
The Earl of Wessex was visiting the University of Chester’s Riverside campus to set the seal on its 175th anniversary celebrations, where he was the first to watch the youngsters perform On Chester On, a special operatic theatre production excerpt about the building of the original College Chapel by students in 1847. The project is part of the university’s partnership with Manchester Camerata and The Philip Barker Charity.
The performance rounded off his visit to the university, which also saw the prince meet various members of staff from the faculties of Education and Children’s Services and Health and Social Care, as well as learn about the building and how it has sustained its vision by becoming an internationally-acclaimed institution.
Royal seal of approval
After his tour of the campus, which also included a tour of skills laboratories for adult and midwifery care and a presentation about 175 years of teacher education in Chester from current staff and alumni, Prince Edward officially unveiled a commemorative plaque marking the occasion, and cut a birthday cake.
Thanking the youngsters, who sang Happy Birthday before he did the honours, he joked: “I do hope you are all going to make a big cheer as I cut this cake as it would be very boring otherwise!
“Thank you very much for an absolutely brilliant performance which hopefully gave you all an excuse to escape from school for a few hours. Congratulations all of you for being involved and I hope this performance isn’t the only time that it will be seen in the light of day.
“Thank you everyone for making me so welcome here at the university today, 175 years - isn’t that amazing? Very good. Now I need you all to pretend that the unveiling of this plaque is the most important thing that has happened at the university in 175 years.”
Some of those who spoke to the prince later told The Chronicle that he seemed ‘incredibly genuine’ and interested in what their roles at the university were.
Christina Cooper, vice president of academic and welfare, said: “He wanted to know what our responsibilities were and we explained how we work to make sure the voice of students’ is heard and try to bring students together from all campuses. He seemed interested in how we manage all the sites and I thought he was really friendly and jokey - he seemed very genuine.
“It’s so nice to see someone from the Royal family coming here to celebrate this occasion, and it’s really good to recognise the history behind it all,” she added.
Earlier in the day Prince Edward opened the new £15m Ellesmere Port Sports Village.
