THEY'RE off to London to see the Queen Mother - staff from the York-based Benenden Healthcare Society were celebrating their royal patron's 100th birthday in style.
They were taking part in the big birthday parade this afternoon in costumes representing the ten decades of the Queen Mother's life.
The friendly society, which has its administrative headquarters in York, provides low-cost mutual back-up health care for almost a million civil servants, BT and postal workers, and their families.
During the parade it would also be celebrating some of the major medical breakthroughs of Her Majesty's life, from the discovery of the three blood groups in 1900 to the first test tube baby in the 1970s.
One staff member, Yvonne Cheeseman, also took part in the parade to celebrate the 90th birthday of the Queen Mother, who has been the society's patron since 1952.
Yvonne said: "I was so thrilled to be asked again. It is really nice for us to be able to represent our million members on such a special day.
"It makes such a difference to be able to take part in something rather than just watching it on the TV."
The society was founded in 1905 to help TB sufferers in the postal service, and has grown into a modern health care organisation with its own 145-bed hospital in Kent.
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