From Donnington to Drayton, the Queen's visits to the region
The Queen became a familiar figure in Shropshire and Mid Wales in the 1980s, visiting the region on no fewer than four occasions.
Indeed, she visited Telford twice in the space of just seven months as she acquainted herself with the fast-growing new town.
On November 13, 1981, Her Majesty opened the second phase of Telford Shopping Centre, going for a walkabout to meet crowds outside the Do It All store. She then travelled north for lunch at Tern Hill Barracks, near Market Drayton, stopping briefly at the Butter Cross in Newport, where she was handed a framed print by Julie Harrison of Burton Borough School.
And less than seven months later, she was back in the county again, to pay tribute to the unsung role played by support workers during the Falklands War.
By June 4, 1982, the conflict in the South Atlantic was entering the closing stages. And in her capacity as Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, the Queen paid a private visit to COD Donnington to meet the workers who had played an important but unsung part in supporting the armed forces.
She arrived in the county at RAF Shawbury, travelling by road through High Ercall. While at Donnington, she officially opened the new Central Processing Building.
On July 11, 1986, the Queen made a whistlestop tour of Montgomeryshire visiting Machynlleth, Llanidloes, Newtown, Montgomery, Berriew and Welshpool. She was then driven through Shrewsbury on her way to RAF Shawbury.
She returned to Welshpool on April 21, 1989, a visit which coincided with her 63rd birthday. She arrived at Welshpool station and went to Powis Castle for celebrations marking the 300th anniversary of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, of which she is Colonel-in-Chief.
Further afield, the Queen visited Shugborough, near Stafford – ancestral home of her cousin, Lord Lichfield – in 1980. She also distributed the Maundy money at Lichfield Cathedral on March 31, 1988.
The Queen did not visit Shropshire in the 1990s, but she did visit Tipton, Dudley, Walsall and Wolverhampton in 1994. She arrived at the newly refurbished Tipton station, before being driven through Owen Street to Dudley, where she opened a new interpretation centre at the castle.
She later visited Walsall probation centre, St Peter's Church in Wolverhampton, before officially opening the revamped Molineux stadium and finishing the day at Dunstall Park.
