Queen's visits to Shrewsbury, Stafford and Dudley
The West Midlands was one of the first ports of call for the new Queen shortly after her accession to the throne in 1952.
Her Majesty made three visits to the region in the 1950s – to Stafford in 1955, and on a tour of the Dudley area in 1957. But her first visit was to Shrewsbury in October, 1952, just months after becoming Queen.
As Princess Elizabeth, she had actually become something of a regular visitor to the town, putting in appearances in 1949 and 1951. Nevertheless, her visit on October 24, 1952 – to mark the 400th anniversary of Shrewsbury School – was particularly as it was the first visit to Shropshire by a reigning monarch since 1914, when George V visited.
During her visit to Stafford on November 2, 1955, Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh rolled up in the town at the end of a day in which she had been touring the Potteries.
Dressed in an oyster satin evening gown, she was welcomed at the county town's railway station by Mayor of Stafford, Alderman Horace Coghlan. While her visit to the Potteries had been marred by bitterly cold winds, the weather had eased off by the evening, and well-wishers who had turned out to see her in Stafford enjoyed relatively benign conditions. Crowds lined the roads along the two-mile route as the royal car made its way towards the county buildings, where the couple attended a reception hosted by Lord Lieutenant Mr H Wallace-Copland.
During the reception, she was presented with 82-year-old Staffordshire Cricket Club stalwart and former England bowler Sydney Barnes. Mr Barnes handed the Duke a parchment an account of Queen Elizabeth I's visit to the town in 1575. The Duke also chatted to Staffordshire businessman Mr A G B Owen, and the couple left for the station after the band played the national anthem. The following day, she toured Birmingham.
Thousands turned out to see the Queen and Duke when they spent St George's Day in Dudley and and North Worcestershire in 1957.
According to the Express & Star, well-wishers travelled in cars and coaches from miles around to catch a glimpse of the monarch on the steps of the Council House at lunchtime.
The day began at 10am, when the Queen and Duke arrived at Hagley railway station. Their car made its way to Halesowen, where her first part of call was the Walter Somers works. There the mayor, Councillor P Timmins, and mayoress, Mrs J R Poole, presented the Queen with gifts for her children: a spade and fork for Prince Charles, and a doll's pram made by Halesowen-based Badham Brothers for Princess Anne.
There were short visits to Oldbury Council House and Rowley Regis, before the Royal party arrived in Dudley town centre at 12.55am, where they were greeted with 5,000 children, large crowds of pensioners, and specially invited guests who gave the Queen "a deafening welcome."
The Queen took a path between the vast crowds to the Apollo statue in Coronation Gardens, where she was greeted by 10-year-old Joy Roberts, and nine-year-old Kathleen Wassell and Susan Mullet, who presented her with a bouquet. She waved to the crowds from the balcony of the Council House, and told mayor Councillor Sam Danks "It's been a wonderful pleasure to come here". After more than two-and-a-half hours in the town, she departed for Brierley Hill, where she visited the Stevens & Williams glassworks, and then to Stourbridge where she was taken on a tour of Mary Stevens Park in an open-topped Land-Rover. She ended her visit at Kidderminster.
