In 1955 the Queen Mother was making a visit to see Sir Arthur Penn at Sternfield House. Local residents from Benhall & Sternfield decided to greet her. To the right of the Sternfield Run a special garden has been laid out, together with a welcome sign spanning the Ford, bunting along the route and union jack flags held by the children to greet her.
Jun 1955 waiting for the Queen Mother at Sternfield Run
Left: Henry Wisby leaning on bridge at Sternfield Run
Brenda Burtenshaw nee Wisby presents a bouquet to the Queen Mother
From Oral Recording with Brenda Burtenshaw nee Wisby, January 2020:
My father Henry Wisby and other local residents decorated around the Run. People came and lined the bridge and the paths. I remember feeling nervous as I had been asked to present a bouquet to the Queen Mother and I had been practicing how to curtsy. It was really a very exciting day for our villages.
Brenda continues:
Eventually the royal car came along and out she stepped. I managed to do my curtsy without falling over. The dress I wore was white with puffed sleeves and decorated with little pale blue and pink teardrops. I quite enjoyed wearing it and the new white shoes!
From the Leiston Observer, 3rd June 1955
STERNFIELD’S WELCOME DELIGHTS QUEEN MOTHER
“Isn’t it lovely”, she exclaimed, when she arrived at Sternfield and saw the special preparations made to welcome her to that village on Tuesday afternoon, for her four-day stay in Suffolk at the home of the Treasurer of her household, Sir Arthur Penn of Sternfield House.
It had been arranged that her majesty would remain in her car for the presentation of a bouquet, but instead, obviously delighted with the welcome, she alighted from the car to be presented with the bouquet by eight year old Brenda Wisby.
The Queen Mother arrived at Bentwaters in a Viking of the Queen’s Flight sharply at 4:30pm. She then drove, using her own car … through Benhall, turning into that village and passing under a “Benhall Greets You” sign, on to the Ford at Sternfield, where she arrived a few minutes after 5 o’clock.
A letter of thanks was sent by Sir Arthur Penn just a couple of days later describing how the Queen Mother so enjoyed her welcome and her very first visit to the County of Suffolk.
