PLANS are under way to prepare York’s streets for the arrival of the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and thousands of visitors in April.

The royal couple are due to spend the day in the city on April 5 on Maundy Thursday, in a visit which will take in Micklegate, the Yorkshire Museum and lunch in the Mansion House.

The Queen will distribute Maundy money as part of an annual Easter tradition, which is this year being held at York Minster Preparatory work being carried out by City of York Council teams will include sourcing a kilometre of crowd barriers for the event and removing or sealing numerous litter bins, while organising extra rubbish collections, as a security precaution.

Media spots for camera crews are also being organised along the route the Queen will travel and the council’s Street Scene team is also working to ensure all flowerbeds are perfectly weeded, all flower baskets looking their best and gutters cleared.

Gill Cooper, head of arts and culture, who is leading plans, said: “We want to keep the Queen safe and we want to ensure as many people as possible get to see her and stay in the city. If you want to see the Queen in the Jubilee year, I can’t think of anywhere better to come.

“The Queen will be in York for a whole day. She will get a lovely view of the city.

“We will be making sure that the city itself is shown in its best light. We do well for the place looking pretty but it’s just that extra spruce-up.”

As councillors wearing ceremonial robes are due to proceed from the Mansion House to the Minster, Maundy money recipients from the Assembly Rooms and the Queen’s Yeoman and Wandsmen from Monk Bar, she said it was important all of the city centre streets were looking their best.

Ms Cooper added that police estimated that as 15,000 extra visitors headed to Scarborough for the Queen’s last visit to the town, York could expect to match or exceed that.

• As the Queen prepares to visit York to distribute Maundy Money and celebrates her Diamond Jubilee, The Press is preparing to publish a series of special Royal supplements and we want to hear from readers about their own experiences.

Were you born on the day the monarch became Queen, or on the day she was born, April 21, 1926? Perhaps you remember Coronation Day? Or, were you in York when the Queen last visited the Minster on Maundy Thursday in 1972? Do you have pictures of that day, or of your coronation celebrations?

If you would like to share your memories with other readers, email mike.laycock@thepress.co.uk or kate.liptrot@thepress.co.uk, or phone Mike Laycock on 01904 567132 or Kate Liptrot on 01904 567168.