A ROYAL AFFAIR FOR KENT
NEWS
ROYAL VISIT FOR HISTORIC DOCKYARD AND COPPER RIVET
HRH The Prince of Wales has paid a visit to Chatham ’ s Historic Dockyard and independent distiller Copper Rivet . Walking through a honour guard made up of the Sheppey and Medway Sea Cadets , His Royal Highness met and spoke to members of Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust ’ s board of trustees before taking a tour of the Command of the Oceans galleries , viewing the new exhibition in No 1 Smithery and a final visit to the trust ’ s collection of historic warships : HMS Gannet , a sloop of the Victorian Royal Navy ; HM Submarine Ocelot , the last Royal Navy warship built at Chatham ; and HMS Cavalier . A famous connoisseur of whisky , The Prince of Wales was intrigued by Copper Rivet ’ s three masthouse whiskies , made with Kentish grains grown by local farmers Ryan McCormack and Dale Burden ; with the distillery ’ s commitment to architectural restoration , urban regeneration and to the agricultural community catching The Prince of Wales ’ s eye .
BENENDEN ’ S BE THE CHANGE CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED IN PRESENCE OF HRH THE PRINCESS ROYAL
Benenden was proud to launch its ambitious bursary and partnerships campaign , Be the Change , at a reception in the presence of HRH The Princess Royal in London . Through the campaign , the school will dramatically expand its bursary programme and also further grow its important partnerships work . The first phase of Be the Change seeks to triple the number of fully-funded bursary places by the end of the school ’ s centenary year in 2023 / 24 . Currently standing at eight , the aim is to have 24 bursary funded students in the school at any given time . Benenden headmistress Samantha Price said : “ We were honoured to welcome Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal to the launch of our Be the Change campaign . The campaign will benefit generations of young people at Benenden , pupils in our partner schools , our local community and across the South East and our society as a whole .” The event was hosted by Elizabeth Fairweather , a bursary recipient who left the school in 2020 and is now studying medicine at King ’ s College London . Afterwards , guests met Her Royal Highness and heard beautiful music from some of Benenden ’ s outstanding musicians .
HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES VISITS ELMLEY NATURE RESERVE , ON THE ISLE OF SHEPPEY
His Royal Highness became aware of Elmley through his own deep interest to save the breeding curlews of Dartmoor and made a trip to the reserve to find out more , first hand , about how land at Elmley is most effectively managed for breeding ground nesting birds . The royal met with pioneering farmer and conservationist Philip Merricks to tour the estate . Elmley is unique in being the only family owned and managed farm to be designated a National Nature Reserve in the UK . Over 40 years , Philip Merricks and his wife Corinne , have transformed an intensive arable and livestock farm into a site with international wildlife significance . His Royal Highness spoke at length with Philip Merricks , reserve manager Gareth Fulton , and Professor Ian Newton , Elmley ’ s scientific advisor , about their experiences on the reserve . Philip Merricks said , “ We were honoured to share the results from restoring biodiversity to the North Kent marshes and to show His Royal Highness the particularly heartening results for breeding wading birds at Elmley .”
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