The Queen: Church service at St Mary's in Fratton recalls treasured community memories of monarch's visit

The service at St Mary’s Church on Saturday evening saw residents, community leaders, and the MPs for Portsmouth North and Portsmouth South gather to reflect on the death of the Queen and her 70 years on the throne.

Led by the church’s vicar, Father Bob White, the service paid homage to Her Majesty’s sense of duty and devotion.

Among the congregation was one family that saw those qualities in the Queen first hand, when Her Majesty visited the Fratton Community Centre in 1980.

Julie Tipler has the moment her four-year-old self came face-to-face with Royalty preserved in a treasured photo – that remains framed in the family home in Fratton.

The 46-year-old said: ‘I couldn’t believe she was there. It was lovely.’

She added that a visit from Prince Charles to create a family tradition would be ‘amazing’.

Julie’s mother Noreen Stoat, who attended the visit with her daughter, said that the occasion remained a ‘lovely’ day in her memory, and she was ‘devastated’ by the Queen’s death.

The 74-year-old said: ‘We thought she was going to go on forever.’

Regarding visiting the Queen lying-in-state, she said: ‘I would have liked to have gone, maybe if I was younger. It shows why events like this are so important.’

For Julie’s 10-year-old daughter, she and her friends couldn’t get over how ‘weird’ it was for them to live through the loss of such a long-reigning monarch.

She said: ‘It feels like we have got through the pandemic, and now something even bigger has happened.’

Among those delivering readings at the church service, Penbridge Junior School headteacher Karen Denton said one of her pupils had summed up the mood of the nation.

She said: ‘One of the children summed it up aptly, saying it just feels different.

‘Last Friday morning, we held a school assembly and watching over 400 children fall silent and motionless out of respect for the Queen was a powerful moment. It served as a reminder that even though we might not be able to say how, Queen Elizabeth touched all our lives.’

Also delivering a reading was the leader of family-support charity the Roberts Centre, who paid homage to the Queen’s ‘extraordinary courage and dedication’ in public service.

Carol Damper said: ‘Her extraordinary faith and care for the well-being of others is what I hope will support all of us in Portsmouth.

‘That kind of role model makes good people do great things.’

Delivering the final reading of the service, Fratton Community Centre manager Julie Crook said that the Queen’s visit in 1980 helped ‘elevate’ the organisation’s sense of history, community, and purpose.

Regarding the impact of the Queen’s death during a cost of living crisis that has badly hit the community, Julie said: ‘I think people are pulling together. We are seeing a lot of people working together and helping out.’

After the service ended with a singing of God Save The King, St Mary’s vicar Father Bob White confirmed that his post as Queen’s Chaplain will see him become one of 33 King’s Chaplains.

He said: ‘I am excited and delighted and honoured. It’s not quite sunk in because of everything else that has been happening.’

St Mary’s will be live-streaming on a large screen the state funeral service for Queen Elizabeth II on Monday at 10am.

Father Bob said: ‘I will be watching a live-stream here so people don’t have to sit at home on their own.’