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EAAA WELCOMES HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN Cover Story A special pull-out feature to commemorate the opening of The Egerton-Smith Centre at Cambridge Airport by Her Majesty The Queen accompanied by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh on 13 July 2016.
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The Royal couple are pictured here being shown the helicopter by Captain William Wales and crew members Mark Milsom and Dr Pam Chrispin Photographs by: Keith Hepple, Phil Cutland Green and John Marsh
THE OPENING OF THE EGERTON-SMITH CENTRE It was a momentous day in EAAA’s history when our Cambridge operating base, the Egerton-Smith Centre, was visited by Her Majesty The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. The Royal party were met by the Lord Lieutenant Sir Hugh Duberly and welcomed by local dignitaries. The Queen and The Duke were given a tour of the new facility, where they admired a special ‘hovering’ helicopter cake. They were then shown the H145 aircraft by their grandson The Duke of Cambridge who is an EAAA pilot. The clinical side of the air ambulance work was explained to the Royal visitors by Dr Pam Chrispin and the clinical operations manager at Cambridge, Mark Milsom.
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Mark, who had got married just a few days earlier, flew back from his honeymoon especially for the occasion. He said: “As soon as I told my fiancée the date of the opening she said I would have to come back from honeymoon for it, so we flew home for 24 hours two days after arriving in Spain. I didn’t mention it to The Queen myself, but she had been told and expressed surprise. It was a very great honour to be able to tell Her Majesty about our work, so I was happy to interrupt my honeymoon for what was an occasion of a lifetime.” The Queen and The Duke met some of the Charity’s volunteers, patients, crew and support staff. The Queen unveiled a plaque formally opening the new facility and met the founder, and now President, of the Charity after whom the building is named, Andrew Egerton-Smith.
The Queen was then introduced to EAAA patient, Boffie Brown (pictured far right) along with Dr Ed Gold and CCP Jemma Varela, who were the clinicians who attended her after a serious road traffic collision two years ago. Boffie has made a full recovery and is back riding her horse competitively. Another former patient two-year-old Pepe Casonova presented the Queen with a posy of traditional English flowers. Pepe became seriously ill in March 2014 when he was just five months old. Pepe and his family were formally introduced to the Queen along with former patients, John Bourne, Jack Charlie Tyson and Mark Warren.
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Meeting The Queen
“A truly wonderful and memorable day, and one that our staff, volunteers and patients will treasure,”
was how EAAA Chairman Major General Sir William Cubitt summed up the opening of the Egerton-Smith Centre at EAAA. A number of volunteers, patients, air ambulance crew, and charity staff were introduced to either The Queen or The Duke of Edinburgh, as were some of our Trustees and representatives of other organisations with whom we work closely.
Jenny Easton, who is one of the longestserving members of staff at EAAA, said she had to read the email asking if she would like to meet The Queen two or three times before believing it. Jenny said: “We were waiting in our groups and it was hard to believe that this was The Queen walking towards me. I will always cherish her smile as she asked me about the changes I’ve seen as the Charity has grown from the days when I worked at a desk and phone in the corner of a borrowed office. “Meeting Her Majesty meant a huge amount to me and it was quite surreal to see her on TV just hours later, meeting Theresa May to ask her to become the new Prime Minister.”
Fundraising staff (L-R) Meg Davies, Leanne Tyers and Nicola Perry were also introduced to The Queen. For Meg, meeting Her Majesty was a lifelong wish that she had never expected to come true. She said: “The visit seemed to go so quickly. There was a lot to remember such as how to address Her Majesty, but it was such an honour.” Leanne, added: “We only heard a few days before that we would be meeting The Queen so there wasn’t really time to get nervous. She talked to us about fundraising and the amount of money a charity like this has to raise. Her Majesty was also clearly very proud of her grandson, William and added that he has told her a lot about his work as a pilot with us.” Nicola described the event as ‘a wonderful experience’ and said: “This was a day I will never forget.”
Her Majesty The Queen unveiling the EgertonSmith Centre