Remembering the Queen's visit to Southwell Minster for the Maundy service

The Queen’s only visit to the district was in April 1984 for the Maundy service at Southwell Minster.

Some camped out overnight to get the best possible view of the popular monarch..

And a crowd of around 500 greeted her and the Duke of Edinburgh at Newark’s Northgate Station.

There, she was greeted by the Mayor of Newark, Mr Roland Cope, and Nottinghamshire’s Lord Lieutenant Sir Gordon Hobday.

The Queen then chatted to children from Bowbridge Road Infants’ School and from Long Bennington Sunday School.

Steven Randall, 7, a Bowbridge pupil, told the Queen: “You are looking very nice today.” She thanked him.

Newark St John Ambulance Brigade cadet Dawn Jepson, 11, of Collingham, was the first to give flowers to the royal visitor.

It was then to Southwell where she arrived at the main gate to the minster bang on schedule in a maroon Rolls Royce to be greeted by a sea of cheering, flag-waving people.

A ripple of expectation travelled through the 1,500 guests sitting in the minster, many of whom had been waiting for more than an hour.

The Queen and a tanned Duke of Edinburgh entered the minster behind the Provost of Southwell, the Very Rev Murray Irvine.

She was followed by a Royal Almonry procession with two Yeoman of the Guard in their dress uniform holding aloft two alms dishes dating from the reign of Charles II.

Close behind were four children ­— Jane Gill, 8, Rachel Baker, 11, Nigel Marshall, 10, and Matthew Todd, 9 ­— chosen from Southwell schoolchildren to represent orphan children at the Royal Almonry.

Pageantry, tradition, and colour engulfed the minster for the hour-long service when the Queen distributed the Royal Maundy.

To mark her visit, the Queen was presented with a silver goblet, the first of a limited edition of 500 to mark the centenary of Southwell Diocese.