Salisbury Cathedral take a look through the archives in new exhibition for The Queen
They're celebrating the Platinum Jubilee
To celebrate the Platinum Jubilee and The Queen's 70 years on the throne, Salisbury Cathedral have dug into the archives for a special exhibition.
They've taken a look back at the two times her majesty has visited the site.
She first made an appearance in 1974 for the Royal Maundy service and then 10 years ago for the Diamond Jubilee tour.
Archivist Emily Naish has been taking a look at the pictures and stories behind those visits and collating them for the public to see.
'Our Queen, Our Cathedral' starts today (Wednesday 1st June) and features a special Royal Maundy coin, which was gifted by the family of Margaret Hewett, who received her Maundy money in recognition of her long-standing service to the Church and community of Colehill in Dorset.
Emily Naish told Greatest Hits Radio:
"Going back to 1974, that was a particularly special occasion because that was when the Queen held the Royal Maundy service on Maundy Thursday. So Maundy is, as many people will know, a special service that's held every year around Easter time, and the it's a tradition that goes back way back to the 1200s where the King or queen used to give out gifts of food and clothing to the poor. Nowadays it's morphed over the years and the Queen now gives out special coins called Maundy coins, which are given out to individuals who have done particularly good work in the community for their contribution to the community.
"So this service was held at Salisbury in 1974 and we were very lucky that one of the recipients of a coin Miss Margaret Hewitt, her family donated her coin to us. So, along with some of her memorabilia from the day, we're gonna have these special coins on display and a lovely letter that was written to Mrs Hewitt by the Royal officials encouraging her to wear a hat, so she obviously was a bit unsure about what she should wear."
As well as the exhibition, the Cathedral is holding a special service, too.
A service of Thanksgiving and Celebration is taking place at 4pm on Saturday (4th) with the St John’s Singers doing the honours as the choir for the occasion under the direction of Steve Abbott, who also sings counter tenor with Cathedral Choir.
The service includes a brand-new work by Thomas Hewitt-Jones called In Our Service, which was commissioned by the Royal School of Church Music for the Jubilee.
You can find out more by visiting the Cathedral's website.