A Trip to Buckingham Palace

Well it was a massive surprise to be honoured in the Queens New Year Honours List for services to young people!

On returning home from Cape Town in November there was a strange looking letter from the Cabinet Secretary on the doormat which informed me that if I would accept it they would like to nominate me for an MBE from the Queen, I of course immediately replied yes (there wasn't an absolutely box but if there was one I would have ticked it!).

To cut a long story short I attended Buckingham Palace in my newly pressed suit with Alethea and Dad & Mum (Graham & Julie) on the 8th of February. What a wow experience it was, if driving through the front gates of the palace wasn't enough what we were party to inside was nothing short of spectacular. On parking in the quadrant we entered a magnificent lobby with red carpet, highly decorated high ceilings, ornate stone work, significantly old oil paintings and around the edge were decorated guards holding polished swords. I was highly nervous throughout the whole experience, but no more so than the moment when I received the honour from Prince Charles in front of 300 guests in the Grand Ballroom.  We chatted about Harleys for a while and I was surprised to hear that his favourite bike is the Street Glide! No seriously we discussed the youth charity that I was involved in setting up in Norfolk and his personal interest The Princes Trust.  The moment was over in a blink of an eye and before I knew it we were making our way back out to the quadrant for photos.  You will be pleased to know we then made our way to the Lanesborough for champagne and lunch with friends.

In terms of days this was one for the lifetime memory book. If you would like to know any more please do speak to me when you're in the store, and you can find out further information about the youth charity OPEN at www.open247.org.uk 

Russ Dacre, MBE

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