Buckingham Palace visit by AMTD!
AMTD were invited to a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace on May 25th 2017 as part of the ROSPA centenary celebrations.
AMTD have been a member of ROSPA for the last 5 years as a means for the trainers to stay up to date with changes to workplace health and safety. We share ROSPAs mission to save lives and reduce injuries through our training programmes in First Aid and Moving and Handling of People.
Alison Meadows the MD went along with her husband Kevin Ingleby for a once in a lifetime experience.
Alison descibes the day :
The event starts with access through the main gates of Buckingham Palace and of course security checks. Following this we were led through the red-carpeted Grand hall with portraits of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert looking down on us! Commoners in the palace tut! We then walked through the Marble hall and the Bow room ( as slowly as possible in my case to take it all in ) and onto the terrace with the incredible gardens and lake spread out in front of us. There is an enormous marquee which serves as a tea tent that can feed 10,000 people smoothly and efficiently, two military bands, and the entire gardens which can be explored. It was lovely to note that there were no areas that we could not access in the gardens. We were able to view the summer house, the Waterloo vase, the rose gardens, the Arboretum and the lovely 19th-century lake.
We had an hour to wander the gardens or sit and listen to the bands until the national anthem is played at 4pm when HRH the Duke of York arrives and meets some of those attending. The beefeaters in attendance make a great show and will allow you to have a quick photo with them!
The afternoon tea is, of course, superb with five different sandwiches and we counted eight different cakes. The queues go down quickly and then people are able to return and refill as many times as they choose. Whilst listening and admiring the bands we were served clotted cream ice creams! Needless to say, the food and drink were plentiful and delicious! We were in the gardens of Buckingham Palace for a whole 3 hours but sadly it went all too quickly. One of my favourite moments was sitting with my husband under the shade of a huge oak tree adjacent to the lake and savouring the view, the history and the incredible opportunity we had been given.
