On August 6, 1955, 13-year-old Joan Leckie put on her exquisite primrose yellow dress, styled her hair to perfection and counted the minutes until she was presented to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on Neyland's station platform.
“It was a day I shall never forget,” recalls Joan, whose surname is now Leckie, from her home in Hazel Beach. ”She was an extremely gracious woman and she spoke to me in such a lovely way.”
The Queen was visiting Neyland as part of her first visit to Pembrokeshire following her Coronation in 1952.
“She’d arrived in town on the Royal steam train with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, and then she boarded the Royal Yacht Britannia that was anchored off Neyland,” continues Jean.
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“I’d been asked to present her with a bouquet as my father (the late Cllr Albert ‘Bert’ Gillam) was a member of Neyland Town Council and they specifically wanted a councillor’s daughter to carry out this duty.”
The bouquet had arrived from Covent Garden and consisted of apricot roses, white stephanotis and the Queen’s favourite flower, namely lily of the valley.
“The Covent Garden florists had very kindly sent the lily of the valley with a root attached which meant we were able to plant it in the garden as a wonderful memory of her visit,” says Joan.
“And whenever I’ve moved house, the lily of the valley has always come with me to be planted in my new garden. And it’s still growing strong, almost 70 years later.”
Despite the tremendous responsibility that faced the young Joan Gillam on that momentous day, she remained calm throughout as she presented the bouquet to the Queen, who was elegant dressed in navy and white.
“I wasn’t in the least bit nervous, probably because I’d had quite a lot of help into how to conduct myself during her visit.
"I’d received instruction from Buckingham Palace on how to curtsy and my English teacher at Milford Haven Grammar School gave me further instruction on a regular basis. So when the day finally arrived for the Queen’s visit, I knew what I was doing.”
The day the Western Telegraph met up with Joan, she was enjoying a Jubilee street party with her friends and neighbours in Hazel Beach.
“This is what makes celebrations such as this so special,” she concluded.
“As well as having an opportunity to spend time with the people around us, we can remember the precious memories of what happened many years ago.”
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