An unexpected lunch with The Queen

Aletter from Dr Ingrid Roscoe, the Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, arrived at my home in Bradford in mid-May. I was invited to a luncheon on 19 July in the staff dining room of Pace, a local but widely known electronics firm in Shipley (a suburb of Bradford), in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. The letter seemed genuine enough but I had no idea why I had been chosen. As it had arrived on a Saturday I had to wait until Monday to enquire if spouses were invited. The answer was ‘no’, so reluctantly I sent off my reply slip to accept. I heard nothing for weeks. I had visions of my reply not having been received. Two weeks before the event I telephoned the office of the Lord Lieutenant and was told the details would be in the post that week. These duly arrived – but still with no clue as to the reason for my invitation. Parking instructions were given and I was informed that a lounge suit was to be worn by men. On the day, outside Pace, a couple walking slowly in front of my car gaily waved to the (small) crowd as if they were royalty. Entering the Pace dining room, I saw a figure of a full-sized ornamental Chinaman: I almost asked him for the way in just as I had of a wax commissionaire outside Madame Tussauds many years ago. There were some 30 people assembled. I was offered orange with cranberry juice – an odd choice as many of those present may well have been on statins, for whom cranberry juice is a no-no drink. I asked for neat orange juice. More guests arrived. The lady of one couple gave me a slight smile – the couple looked vaguely familiar but I couldn’t place them. Simon Lindley, Leeds City Organist and a one