The Countess of Wessex enjoying her tour with staff and students at The Royal School for Deaf Children in Margate. (c) Matt McArdle
HRH The Countess of Wessex started her latest trip to Kent which took place on the 26th September, by visiting The Royal School for Deaf Children in Margate, of which she is patron. She was there to open a new hydrotherapy pool, a disability gym, and a café complex.
After unveiling a plaque, the Countess was taken for a tour of the orchard project, where she met and spent time with children and volunteers who grow herbs and vegetables there.
The Memorial Stone at The Tunbridge Wells Hospital, unveiled by The Countess of Wessex (c) Gianna Pollero-Payne
HRH left Margate to visit the Tunbridge Wells Hospital where she unveiled a Memorial Stone to commemorate the care of the sick and wounded in wartime marking the work of the local hospitals in both the 1st and 2nd world wars. Sited on the slope above the main entrance to Tunbridge Wells Hospital, the two-and-a-half ton slab is inscribed with words from a letter written during the First World War.
It reads: “While our soldiers can stand and fight, then I can stand and feed and nurse them.”
HRH with hospital staff. (c) Gianna Pollero-Payne
Following the unveiling she met with members of the emergency services and armed forces who attended the moving ceremony.
HRH talking with Polly Taylor, one of The Pickering Cancer Drop-in Centre’s co-founders. (c) David Bartholomew
Her Royal Highness’s day concluded with a visit to The Pickering Cancer Drop-in Centre in Tunbridge Wells which celebrates its tenth birthday this year. HRH spent time with staff, cancer sufferers and their families, while touring the premises.
Staff outside their Monson Road premises enjoying their 10th anniversary celebrations. (c) David Bartholomew
