Music holiday leader attends Royal garden party

Marcus Martin, one of our Music holiday leaders, attended the Royal Jubilee Garden Party at Buckingham Palace on 22 May. This was only one of two such garden parties to be held during the Diamond Jubilee year. Marcus’ attendance was in recognition of 25 years of services to music and charities in Worthing, through involvement with amateur and professional choirs and orchestras, work with young performers, and in particular for the raising of nearly £40000 for various local and national charities during 10 years of presenting ‘Morning Melodies’. Read about Marcus’ special day below.

If you want to join Marcus on one of his holidays, please check our Leisure Activities website for more details – he is leading a variety of choral, singing and orchestral holidays during the remainder of 2012.

Marcus’ day

"Having parked in the Mall and observed the final preparations for the erecting of the staging for the Jubilee concert, my partner Eunice and I joined the short queue and were soon inside the downstairs state reception rooms. From the terrace the vast royal gardens looked most impressive in the brilliant sunshine and there was time to explore before 4pm when the military band played the National Anthem and the Royal party appeared and made their way slowly through the parting crowds to take tea in the Royal tea tent, stopping to chat with many of the guests along the way. The Queen wore a calf length peach coat and matching hat and she was accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh. They were joined by the Duke of York, the Princess Royal, the Duke of Kent, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, Princess Alexandra, the Hon Lady Ogilvy and the Duchess of Gloucester.

We adjourned to the impressive 450 foot long marquee where vast quantities of mint and cucumber sandwiches, scones and fancy cakes were the order of the day, served with Diamond Jubilee tea, iced coffee and apple juice, followed by tubs of ice cream to complement a perfect summer afternoon. To catch a glimpse of the Queen amongst the huge crowds had been difficult but our patience was rewarded by having a front-row view of the Royal party as they made their way back towards the palace again. At 6pm the National Anthem was played again, signaling the departure of the Royal Family from the grounds.

So ended our memorable day at the Royal Garden Party – cameras were not allowed in the Palace grounds but as luck would have it as we made our way towards the exit a friendly policewoman took our photograph outside the railings in front of the Palace - a perfect reminder of a very special day!"