Well, I certainly hadn’t expected that I would end up as part of the BBC Radio York Royal Wedding commentary team on Friday, but that’s exactly how things turned out …
The Royal Wedding in BBC Radio York's Breakfast Show studio, with host Adam Tomlinson and Fashion City York's Russell Norton
I had been invited in to encourage BBC Radio York listeners to write some Royal Wedding ‘ditties’, and to perform some Royal Wedding poems of my own, which I duly did:
But as the morning went on, and the guests arrived in their stunning (and not so stunning) hats, and Princes William and Harry set off for Westminster Abbey, I became more and more engrossed in the spectacle …
and more and more carried away by the whole affair …
And along with Russell Norton of Fashion City York, I stayed right up to the moment Kate Middleton entered Westminster Abbey at 11 o’clock, at which point BBC Radio York handed over to Radio 4 for coverage of the wedding service itself.
As Kate made her way to Westminster Abbey, I was serenading her (had she but known it) and the Radio York listeners with a poem:
When I left the BBC Radio York studios in the centre of York, I was greeted by the fabulous sound of the bells of York Minster pealing in celebration:
Then I made my way back to my home village of Heslington …
Heslington Village decked out for the Royal Wedding
… for our Royal Wedding street party:
Our Royal Wedding Street Party, 29 April 2011
Many thanks to host Adam Tomlinson and all the team at BBC Radio York for inviting me to be part of this historic day.
Janette Ray Antiquarian Booksellers' window display in Bootham, York, on Royal Wedding Day, 29 April 2011
To hear of the wedding from a plane,
For some would be a royal pain,
But Kate said Obey
So all is OK
And that’s me, in KAF. Again.
XX
F.A.B.! May all your future missives be in verse!