Friday 22 October 2010

The Queen: Day Two



The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are on the second day of their visit to Northern Ireland.

This morning, Her Majesty and His Royal Highness attended a reception at Hillsborough Castle to celebrate 150 years of cadet forces. They met cadets aged between 14 and 17 years old with their leaders, before being joined by around 180 guests in the throne room of the castle.

The Queen's next engagement was in Lisburn, where HM officially opened a new visitors' centre at the Coca-Cola bottling plant. Her Majesty toured the factory at Knockmore Hill, meeting staff and watching the bottle blowing process take place.

Her Majesty, Patron, and His Royal Highness on Thursday attended a Reception at Hillsborough Castle to mark the Tenth Anniversary of Action for Children and were received by Mrs. Fionnuala Cook (Vice Lord-Lieutenant of County Down) and Ms. Pam Chesters (Chairman, Action for Children).

The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh on Thursday evening attended a Dinner given by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland at Hillsborough Castle.The Queen also met with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the First Minister of Northern Ireland.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was received in audience by The Queen at Hillsborough Castle. The Rt. Hon. Peter Robinson MLA (First Minister of Northern Ireland) was received by Her Majesty.

The final engagement of the two day visit was at Belfast International Airport, for the completion of a major £10m refurbishment to the terminal, which has been in development since last year.

Her Majesty and His Royal Highness were greeted by Mrs Joan Christie OBE, HM Lord-Lieutenant of County Antrim and went on to meet Mr John Doran, Managing Director, Belfast International Airport and Mr Alan Whiteside, Operations Director, Belfast International Airport.

In the Business Lounge HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, accompanied by Mr Doran and Mr Whiteside, met around 70 guests from the Airport Senior Management Team, Airport Fire Service, Air Traffic Control, Airport Constabulary, Emergency and Support Staff and Airport Administration.

Her Majesty and His Royal Highness also met representatives from organisations associated with the Airport, including UK Border Agency, Portal Policing, Airline Representatives and Handling Agents and local Business representatives.

Following a few words of thanks Mr Doran invited Her Majesty and His Royal Highness to unveil a plaque to commemorate the visit before then signing the visitors book.

Mrs Patricia McDonagh , who has worked at the Airport for over 25 years, presented Her Majesty with a gift of a posy of flowers, bringing the visit to a close.


3 comments :

Anonymous said...

Presume you've heard about Capt. (Bill) Henderson, Tim?

W.

Timothy Belmont said...

No. Bad news, is it?

Timothy Belmont said...

I've been away all day and saw the article now. I wonder if it was sudden and whether he's been ill?