Andrew Brown - Farming in the Park update

 After the whirl of Christmas and the New Year celebrations I can reflect on the past few weeks.

The 14th of December saw the launch of our Farming in the Park project at St James’s Palace. I was the main organiser of the party and dealing with the security, the Superintendent of the State Apartments, the caterers and other associated bodies took a lot of time and effort.

Each invitee had to have a numbered admittance card with their name on it to coincide with that of the official list held by the police manning the door on the Marlborough Road. This may seem relatively simple until you realise that lots of people, especially women, use their maiden names at work and their married names on all documentation. Two forms of ID were required to match the admittance cards which should bear the same name.

Several of the guests rang me on the day of the launch to inform me that these would not match. Quite what I was supposed to do at that late stage I’m not sure, but the police men and women on the door were very helpful and all guests were eventually allowed in. HRH Prince Philip does not like to be met at doors so myself and Guy Smith met him in the Throne Room and then introduced the Secretary of State the other Directors and the sponsors of the evening. We then moved into the Queen Anne Room where the 100 guests were assembled. Guy spoke first followed by HRH and Caroline Spelman and then me. It is not often you get the chance to be on the same platform as the Secretary of State and the husband of the Head of State. A nerve racking experience as you may imagine.

After the speeches it was my task to escort HRH around the room and introduce him to the guests. One chap from a TV company was duly presented and Prince Philip immediately told him that his hair was too long and that he should get it cut. I steered HRH towards Jimmy Doherty who, when he had finished talking to the Prince gave me a wink and said “nice one mate”. One person grabbed the Duke’s hand and shook it vigorously which is a big no no in royal protocol.

From then on HRH has a glass of beer in his right hand held close to his chest so it could not happen again. The evening went better than we could have hoped and we are making progress with major sponsorship. So fingers crossed we will be able to press the green button in a few months and really get this show on the road.