Men’s group plant roses at Buckingham care home in honour of Her Late Majesty

The Buckingham Men in Sheds group have planted Queen Elizabeth roses in memory of our late Queen in the grounds of the town’s Clarendon House care home.

Sara Reading, interim manager of the home in Cornwall’s Meadow, said: "Throughout her reign and seven decades of extraordinary change and challenge, Her Majesty was the epitome of duty, stability, wisdom, and grace. We, at Clarendon House, wanted to celebrate the life of such a marvellous monarch.”

As well as a national loss, the death of Her Majesty was a time of reflection for the residents of Clarendon House, some of whom had witnessed the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Resident Colin Hinton, aged 90, shared his memories the Coronation Day

“I have great memories of the coronation,” he said. “My then girlfriend, Shirley Jefferies, and I stood in the rain by the second lamppost on the right, up the mall from the Buckingham Palace.

"The crowd were in great form, singing and chanting at anything that moved. The first big cheer was for a youth on a bike, doffing his cap as he cycled up the mall and disappeared towards Trafalgar Square. I think he must have been told off because, on his way back, he was very subdued.

“Lots of cheers ensured, but the next biggest one was as the news spread through the crowd that Edmund Hillary was the first man to climb mount Everest.

“As I say, many more cheers for the participants, but one of the most memorable was for the delightful Queen of Tonga, who ignored the weather and drove by in an open carriage.

"Then the deafening cheers as The Queen went by with her beloved husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, to go to Westminster Abbey to be crowned.

“The cheers were repeated as she travelled back, the crowned Queen of the Empire.”

Colin added: “I was delighted to be at Clarendon House on the day that the roses were planted. I consider it a great honour.”

Colin and Shirley were married for 66 years, until Shirley sadly passed away in June.