Amy Walker was one of our members selected to attend The Queen's 90th Birthday Celebrations, for The Patron's Lunch in London.  Amy shares with us her experience of the whole event.

I was one of the 20 people to be invited to the Queen’s Patron’s Lunch at Buckingham Palace on the 12th June. It was a great honour and privilege for me to be selected from such a large number of brigade members. I was very excited as this was my first time visiting London, made greater by the opportunity to meet the royal family and be part of such a significant event.

On the morning of the lunch, myself and everyone else involved was really excited and we refused to let the typical British weather dampen our spirit. When we arrived at the Palace I had a mixture of feelings, I was feeling both overwhelmed and excited at the same time. The total number of people attending the event was amazing, 10,000 people had come together with the same purpose of celebrating the Queen's 90th birthday. Seeing how many different charities and organisations the Queen is a patron of is fantastic, it was a stunning view as they lined both sides of The Mall.

For the lunch we were presented with beautifully packed hampers full of British classic food, all packaged especially for the event. My particular favorite was the salmon as it was unlike any salmon I have had before, this was washed down with a classical British Pimms. As the rain eased, following the lunch was a parade celebrating 60 years of the Queen’s reign, each decade with a different theme and each decade representing the different charities and organisations involved in it all. I was taken back by the pipe band because I was impressed by the drummers, especially since I am a drummer within brigade.

Overall I loved the entire experience, truly one I will never forget. My first experience of London was one to remember, my thanks are to brigade for giving me this fantastic opportunity.