Royal watchers gathering at Chester ’s Town Hall Square tomorrow (June 14) are advised there is no need to be alarmed when an air raid-style siren sounds at noon.
The siren will mark the beginning of a minute’s silence to mark the one year anniversary of the Grenfell Tower disaster in which 72 people tragically perished.
The silence is being marked at UK government buildings across the country and other organisations may follow suit.
Cheshire West and Chester Council recently marked the first anniversary of the Manchester Arena bomb attack in Town Hall Square using the same hand-cranked siren.
A note on the council website states: “At 12 noon there will be a minute’s silence for the one year anniversary of the Grenfell Tower disaster. A siren will sound across Town Hall Square to mark the start and end of the silence.”
It’s expected a large crowd will gather outside Storyhouse on Thursday morning to see Her Majesty and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, arrive by car for a tour of the building.
They will visit the children’s library, stopping to meet a Syrian settlement group engaged in craft work.
The royal party will then watch a performance by Fallen Angels, a dance theatre company for people in recovery from addiction, before moving to the theatre to see a medley of songs from Storyhouse’s latest production, A Little Night Music.
On the ground floor they will see school children from local primary schools perform songs alongside actors from Swallows and Amazons. Her Majesty will unveil a plaque to mark the official opening of Storyhouse.
The Queen and the Duchess will then go on a brief ‘walk-about’ as they make their way over to Chester Town Hall where they will attend a lunch as guests of the council, which will mark the conclusion of their visit to Cheshire.
This point of the trip is when lucky members of the public may get the chance to chat with the royal pair.
