THE QUEEN VISITS TIPTREE JAM
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II made a private visit to Wilkin & Sons Ltd to mark 125 years of jam making at Tiptree. The visit was an honour for the company and was greeted with huge excitement by the staff.
As The Queen walked through the jam factory she watched several processes that are still carried out by hand: destalking mulberries, spooning out the centres of oranges for marmalade and hand finishing Christmas puddings.
The Royal party then moved to the Jam Museum in the Visitors’ Centre where four retired staff with a total of 157 years service were presented; followed by groups of staff representing different aspects of the expanding business.
The Queen signed the Visitors’ Book before unveiling a beautiful Welsh slate engraved plaque marking her visit and 125 years of jam making. A tiny gold and silver Little Scarlet strawberry was presented to Her Majesty by Peter Wilkin and Genevieve McCrory presented a posy of cream and gold flowers.
As The Queen departed crowds of staff and pensioners pressed forward to get a better picture of their first Royal visitor for 25 years.
