Yesterday, The Princess Royal visited Glasgow, to help celebrate Glasgow Nautical College’s 50th anniversary and attend a reception for bereaved families.
Princess Anne, Honorary President, at the Oxford Farming Conference. Image ©Licensed to i-Images Picture Agency. 06/01/2016. Oxford, United Kingdom. The Oxford Farming Conference 2016. Examination Halls. Picture by i-Images
Located on the banks of the River Clyde, the Glasgow College of Nautical Studies first opened in 1969, to provide a curriculum in maritime training and education. While touring the riverside campus, The Princess Royal was shown the college’s technologically state-of-the-art facilities and had the opportunity to meet with the Faculty of Nautical and STEM cadet students and personnel.
The Princess was shown a letter written by her uncle, Lord Mountbatten, when he opened the school 50 years ago. She was also fortunate enough to speak with two former students who were at the opening day and had met Louis, Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
The Princess Royal visiting our Riverside Campus accompanied by Principal Paul Little. HRH visit will mark 50 years of maritime education and training on the banks of the River Clyde and officially launch our Maritime 50 celebrations #maritime50 https://t.co/RwEtVrHMqR pic.twitter.com/wQLCUuaCVH
— CityofGlasgowCollege (@CofGCollege) February 20, 2019
The Princess Royal was shown a letter written by her great uncle 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma who officially opened the original Glasgow College of Nautical Studies in 1969 and spoke to two former students who met Lord Mountbatten on that day in 1969. #maritime50 pic.twitter.com/KTpLXlxFcl
— CityofGlasgowCollege (@CofGCollege) February 20, 2019
Another part of Anne’s tour included a demonstration by Dale Colley, a former electrical engineering student, who is the designer of a drone that is capable of monitoring water quality. She also witnessed a presentation on life saving research techniques that help to determine the depletion rate of oxygen in confined spaces in ships that are at sea.
Additionally, The Princess Royal was able to try out the College’s 360-degree simulation suite to experience different Polar Ice Navigation skills.
Upon completion of the tour, Principal and Chief Executive of the City of Glasgow College, Paul Little articulated to those gathered: “We are absolutely delighted and greatly honoured that Her Royal Highness has visited Riverside to officially launch our 50th celebration year.
“Building design, learning and teaching approaches may have changed to match our tech savvy and digitally enlightened students, however, what remains the same are the determination, persistence and vision to make dreams a state-of-the-art reality for the 2,000 cadets, officers and engineers from across 135 different nationalities who now study here.”
“There are many fond memories of our former nautical college and we are extremely proud of the important history it brings to our new multi award winning super campus. I am particularly pleased that Her Royal Highness had the opportunity to see for herself the tremendous work delivered here and the positive impact our college is having on the global maritime community. We look forward to the next 50 years when skilling, up-skilling, and re-skilling with the latest technology will be more vital than ever.”
Finally, Princess Anne unveiled a beautiful stone sculpture that was designed by the students and staff. The commemorative plaque bears the college’s motto: “Let Learning Flourish”.
In her role as President of Victim Support Scotland, Princess Anne next visited the organisation’s headquarters to mark Victims’ Week and meet with family members who’ve lost love ones to murder.
To mark #VictimsWeek, our president HRH The Princess Royal came to our office to meet people whose family members had been murdered.
She also spent time with our development team, discussing plans for the new homicide service launching soon. pic.twitter.com/rGKozS5iF4
— Victim Support Scot (@VSScotland) February 20, 2019
Victim Support Scotland is an organisation of volunteers who help provide crime victims, witnesses or anyone who has been affected by a crime, with emotional and practical support. All of the services that are provided are completely free and confidential. It is the hope of Victim Support Scotland that, with their help, victims of crime will be able to regain control of their lives and become confident in themselves again.
Additionally, Princess Anne met with the development team to confer about a new homicide service that is being set up and funded by the Scottish Government. This service will provide families of murder victims with an individual caseworker as well as continuous support.
We were delighted to welcome our president, HRH The Princess Royal to our Glasgow service today to speak to some of our service users and mark #VictimsWeek pic.twitter.com/adTZprrKbp
— Victim Support Scot (@VSScotland) February 20, 2019
The organisation will also start implementing a “victim-centred” approach, as well as streamlining information flow and points of contact so victims will not have to repeat and live through their ordeals multiple times as they tell their stories to numerous agencies.
