City gets a Royal visitor (From York Press)

City gets a Royal visitor

9:18am Monday 16th June 2008 in

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CROWDS of people gathered as Prince Andrew visited York to mark the Queen's official birthday and the 100th anniversary of the Territorial Army.

The Duke of York joined the Territorial Army (TA) in Museum Gardens, where students from the Leeds University Officer Training Corps fired a royal salute to celebrate the Queen's birthday.

It may have been raining prior to the salute, and after it, but the public was still out in force for the royal visit, and the weather appeared to do little to dampen the grandeur of the event.

The salute consisted of 21 rounds from four 105mm light guns - which have been used in the Falklands and Afghanistan - at 15-second intervals.

The onlookers, who had assembled on the slopes of the gardens to watch the salute, seemed impressed by the crack of the guns, from which billows of smoke rose above the spectacle. There was also a band, which made for a colourful occasion, its members dressed in impeccable, bright red and black attire as they marched around the gardens. The band played the national anthem after the last round was fired.

This year marks the centenary of the TA, and after the salute, the duke also celebrated the moment by dedicating a locomotive at the National Railway Museum, in Leeman Road, York.

The type five diesel locomotive - which will be used by rail freight operator English Welsh and Scottish Railway Ltd to haul heavy loads as well as trains for the Ministry of Defence - was named "The Territorial Army centenary".

The royal visit also saw soldiers from the 4th Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment - the TA battalion - form a guard of honour in the gardens.

Catherine Nancarrow, 67, who lives in the Bootham area of York, and was watching the event, said: "It's always very efficient. It's very grand.

"I'm glad that York's got it - there's only a few places that have gun salutes in the country, this is one of the few. I like to see the bands too, and the colour."

John Skerritt, 46, of Clifton, York, said he thought the salute was very good.

"I was impressed with the salute," he said. "The whole occasion is very good - something different."