Jubilee Celebrations - A Special Visitor

As part of our Platinum Jubilee celebrations, Year 3 and 4 were lucky enough to have a special visit from Lewis' parents, who shared his Dad's experience of working at one of the Queen's residences.

Lewis' Dad was part of a team who completed renovation work at Windsor Castle after the building was tragically damaged by a fire in 1992.

The fire started in Queen Victoria's Private Chapel, where a faulty spotlight ignited a curtain next to the altar. Within minutes the blaze was unstoppable and had spread to St George's Hall next door. The fire itself was first spotted around 11:30 on 20th November 1992. Three hours later, 225 firemen from seven counties were battling the flames. At the peak of the operation they were using 36 pumps, discharging 1½ million gallons of water. The fire was finally extinguished at 02:30 on Saturday, 21 November. It had burned for 15 hours. Next came the huge restoration task which was carried out by skilled workers. It took 5 years for the restoration works to be completed.

Lewis' Dad brought in a letter that he'd been given - which was signed by the Queen herself! We all felt incredibly lucky to have seen and held such a special letter from the Queen.

The children had so many questions that they wanted to ask - everything from 'What colour did you paint the walls?' to 'Was there lots of security?'. Lewis' parents were very patient and happily answered all of our questions.

After the visit, we went back into class to research Windsor Castle to help us imagine what it must have been like to work in there. We also thought about what it must be like for the Queen and her family to live in such a lavish castle.

It was a fantastic experience for all of the children and we were very grateful to Lewis' parents for coming into school to share this unique experience with us.

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