8 September 2022

We were unprepared for the death of The Queen, as was most of the country. We saw the photograph of her taken at Balmoral forty-eight hours previously - the tartan, the amazing smile - and then suddenly she was gone. We knew it was likely, but it was so fast, with no warning. We felt we had lost someone we knew. But we didn’t really know her, and our thoughts are with her family and those who were her friends.

Was it only a few months ago, in the bloom of summer, that we celebrated her Platinum Jubilee, that of the first British monarch to reign for 70 years? She came to the throne in 1952 and was crowned in Westminster Abbey in 1953. That Coronation was an astonishing gathering of World and Commonwealth leaders, and a glittering procession of hierarchy, the like of which we will probably never see again.

Project Factory produced a Platinum Jubilee tribute to Her Majesty from the people of Wells, and it was wonderful to hear the memories of all the local people who met her during her reign. She touched so many hearts. We will miss her.