Queen's visit
Date: Tuesday January 22, 2008
Milton Keynes was honoured to have a visit from the Queen and Prince Philip on Thursday 29th November 2007 and our branch of Hearing Dogs was invited to take part, the occasion was the official opening of the new Football Stadium and was also a repeat of her initial visit forty years ago. Six members of our group were invited, together with Ruth, the regional fundraiser for our area and Kerry who volunteered to interpret.
Our Chairperson Doreen Monk writes:
We are a new group and were quite nervous about the correct procedure but nothing could have been more relaxed and informal. Bruce was persuaded to dress up in the dog costume but drew the line at wearing the head. Janet and Jane sat at their table trying to look professional whilst making dog beds and Ruth spoke to the Queen to tell her what we did, We were lucky to have Kerry to interpret for us but Her Majesty was so easy to lip-read we were happy to talk to her. We presented The Queen with a dog bed which we had made, it had the outline of paw prints in the corners and was in gold and burgundy fleece fabric, She admired the two hearing dogs we had with us, Gypsy and Iris and patted Gypsy on the head, it was a nice occasion and thoroughly enjoyed by all.