CHESTER welcomed a royal visitor to the city this week.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester visited Chester Cathedral on Tuesday to open the newly planted gardens and attend a function at Chester Town Hall.
The duchess planted a tree and formally named the area between St Werburgh Street and the south side of the cathedral as The Jubilee Gardens, a lasting remembrance of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
The duchess was greeted in Abbey Square by the Dean of Chester, the Very Rev Gordon McPhate, and introduced to garden designer Philip Hunt, and Nick Fry, secretary of the Friends of Chester Cathedral, which organised the appeal for the new oak benches. The Friends also finance the upkeep of the grounds around the cathedral.
The plants in the curvaceous borders, at Chester’s War Memorial, were selected for interest throughout the year but there is special emphasis on colour during the remembrance period.
After the ceremony the duchess went to the Town Hall for a reception attended by the Lord Mayor of Chester, Cllr Pam Booher.
This was the first visit to Chester by the duchess, who was accompanied by the Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire, David Briggs.
At the reception the Lord Lieutenant, the Queen’s representative in the county, presented two Chester volunteer groups with an MBE.
Dee Sign Choir and Phab, a social club for people with and without disabilities, were presented with The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the MBE for Voluntary Groups.
The presentation was a family affair for two women. Ann Hesketh, of Blacon, is director of Dee Sign Choir and daughter Linda, of Handbridge, is chairman of Phab. Both groups received a commemorative crystal and a certificate.
