The day the Royals dropped in to visit Luton

Excitement is brewing across Luton as it prepares to greet the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge today.The visit by the future King and Queen is a day that will never be forgotten by the honoured businesses and charities hosting them.
Prince William and Kate - The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge PPP-150716-164018001Prince William and Kate - The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge PPP-150716-164018001
Prince William and Kate - The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge PPP-150716-164018001

The Duke and Duchess will be opening Hayward Tyler’s new “fit-for-nuclear” facility on Kimpton Road, which has undergone a refurbishment of over £10m.

CEO Ewan Lloyd-Baker said: “We are very excited by the impending Royal visit.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the hard work undertaken by all those at Hayward Tyler over the past few years. We have developed a world-class facility here that will make us more competitive across the global markets in which we operate. It is exciting to be able to promote such a strong British manufacturing story, with real heritage and a strong future.”

The royal couple have also been invited to tour Keech Hospice and meet staff and patients.

Liz Searle, CEO of Keech Hospice Care, said: “We are delighted to welcome Their Royal Highnesses to Keech Hospice Care.

“I will be very proud to show the Duke and Duchess our excellent adult and children’s facilities which as a charity we provide to patients and their families at a time in their lives they need it most.

“Keech Hospice Care is a hospice full of life and our staff, patients and volunteers look forward to showing it to the Duke and Duchess as we celebrate 25 years of excellent care.”

The couple will begin their Luton tour with a visit to Bute Mills, to see local or-ganisations doing ground-breaking work with young people, with a focus on men-tal health and emotional wellbeing.

The building re-opened in April 2016 as the new home for Luton-based national youth charity Youthscape, following a £3.2 million ren-ovation.

After their tour of the building, and introduction to Youthscape, they will meet CHUMS, a mental health and emotional wellbeing service for children and young peo-ple, where they will discuss how the organisation sup-ports young people dealing with, or affected by, suicide.

They will also meet the OM Group, Our Minds Mat-ter (OMM), Luton Council of Faiths and Grassroots, who are working together to raise awareness and address stigma in the field of mental health among faith groups in the area.

The Royal visit to Luton also coincides with Hayward Tyler being awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise In International Trade, the UK’s highest accolade for overseas trading and commercial success. Ewan Lloyd-Baker attended Buckingham Palace to collect the award on behalf of the company.

Commenting on the award, Ewan Lloyd-Baker said “We are extremely proud and honoured to have received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise In International Trade. This prestigious award recognises the achievements that our team has made over the past few years and to Hayward Tyler’s commitment to engineering, product development and manufacturing excellence that is providing our international customer base with durable, highly engineered products, across the energy space.”