The Visit to Buckingham Palace
Wednesday afternoon 23rd of June saw George Smart alighting from the train at Salisbury station. Fifteen minutes later George was on the receiving end of a practical joke by the staff of the Cutting Corner hairdressers. Hidden behind the door was our Sgt Major 'Yakker' Yates waiting to give George a 'blast from the past'. Luckily for George, he woke up to find he was in the present. Buck continues the story from here on in. "Well the great day had arrived and we all congregated at my house for dinner before setting off. Then after ensuring that we were appropriately dressed including medals and of course we all had that important invitation we had a photo call before setting off at 2.30pm.
The journey to London was quite straight forward even though we missed the turn off and had to join the M3 via Winchester but the traffic soon built up once we got into London. Then as time passed we got a little concerned that we may not arrive at the designated time of 5.30pm but, we needn’t have worried for as we neared central London we had the opportunity to ask a passer by which lane to stay in for Buckingham Palace. They said just follow the road around to the left which we did and lo and behold there was a Police Officer directing us and after having the car security checked we were directed through the Main gates and into the inner Court Yard to park arriving just after 5.00pm.
Then after having a few photos as well as making calls to tell everyone we had arrived the four of us walked up the stairs and into the State Apartments for the reception.
For the next two hours we mingled with several hundred ex service guests chatting about experiences as well as catching glimpses of the Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Tim Lawrence as well as some of the stars who were later to entertain us.
At about 7.15pm people started to make their way to the Ballroom for the concert where for two hours we were thoroughly entertained by such stars as Robert Hardy, Simon Williams, Hanna Gordon, Blake, Rick Wakeman, Dame Judi Dench, Anton du Beke and Erin Boag. During which we learned the history of the “Not Forgotten Association”. The concert was rounded off with “Land of Hope and Glory”, “We’ll Meet Again” and “The Not Forgotten March” then all the stars coming down into the audience shaking hands with as many as they could and wishing us well. The four of us then made our way slowly out saying our goodbyes to those we had made acquaintances with as well as taking some last minute photos to mark the occasion.
On our journey home we all reflected on the evening we had just experienced, we found it hard to believe all that had happened since George, John, Mick (who couldn’t attend) and I had got together in 2007 at the last 59 reunion. We arrived home at 11.30pm in the hope that we ALL, can experience many memorable get togethers."
If you wish to view the official pictures taken at the palace Control click to open a new window on the link below.