With a royal wedding just around the corner, we thought we’d introduce a royal flavour to the latest edition of Engage, our residents’ magazine.
A photograph donated by the family a Nags Head estate resident shows a visit by the Queen Mother on 11 July 1960. Patron of the London Gardens society, the Queen Mother visited a garden on the estate as part of a tour of gardens in East London. The image, featured in Engage (pg15), was taken by resident Charles William Gaylor. It shows the Queen Mother standing in a garden belonging to John and Nellie Nicholls, who lived in Shipton House.
But further research turned up photos from another resident, showing the same event from a different angle. Gladys Lugg was born on Shipton Street and moved into a flat on the estate when she was just 13. She lives in the same flat today.
“I watched the estate being built,” Gladys remembers. “Johnny Nicholls was born here like me. They were a nice family. We all got on with each other.”
On the day of the Queen Mother’s visit in 1960, Gladys was close enough to take a couple of pictures of her own. “Johnny Nicholls had a lovely garden on the estate and [the Queen Mother] came to see it. When I knew she was coming to the estate, I ran up and got my camera. I’m a royalist – cockneys are,” she laughs. “And I took a photograph of her.”
And you can see Gladys's memento from her brush with royalty here.
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Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother visits the Nags Head estate in 1960. Both photos were taken by Gladys Lugg, who still lives on the estate.
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