SARUM U3A

Chairman Neil Russell opened proceedings at the May coffee morning by making an urgent plea for a volunteer to take on the catering for the Annual Party and the Group Leaders Lunch and for a new newsletter editor.

Ena Baldock introduced speaker John Smith, former BBC sports commentator, presenter and producer, who spoke on the fascinating topic of Royal Farewells. He started with a quick canter through the diverse burial locations of all the British monarchs including Canterbury, Westminster and most recently Windsor Castle. In a talk peppered with riveting snippets of information we learned that today the monarch’s coffin is always preceded by the Royal Navy because of an incident at Queen Victoria’s funeral when one of the carriage horses fell injured and a quick thinking Royal Navy officer brought in troops to drag the carriage; the phenomenon of the public laying floral tributes started at the funeral of King George V; a few months after a monarch is crowned they take part in detailed planning of their own funeral arrangements.
No plans had been made for Princess Diana’s funeral. Within 24 hours of her death a huge BBC team was assembled, with the BBC deciding that sports producers were best placed to make speedy arrangements for positioning of cameras, booking satellite links, etc.

At the next coffee morning on 17 June Derek Wilson will give a talk about Henry VIII on the 500th anniversary of his accession to the throne entitled “King, Reformer, Tyrant”. Please see www.derekwilson.com for more details.