On Wednesday 12th October 2011 Maggie Titmuss and her family attended Buckingham Palace for Maggie’s investiture as MBE.

The day was very structured as you can imagine. We arrived at the Palace at 10:00 and were allowed to park in the grounds. There were lots of tourists outside the gates taking pictures of everyone going through! We were told there that it would be Her Majesty the Queen presiding over the ceremony which took the whole thing up a notch.

The Palace is spectacular with marvellous paintings along the corridors and in the galleries. Graham and the girls were briefed in the ballroom while I joined the other recipients for our briefing which was conducted by the Lord Chamberlain. I met lots of very interesting people there including the Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson. Everyone was overwhelmed by the sense of occasion but only got really nervous when it was time to go through to the ceremony at 11:00.

When it was my turn Her Majesty pinned the medal on me and asked me a few questions about my work. She stands on a dais so looks a lot taller than you would think. When she shakes your hand that means that the conversation is over! Recipients then sit in the main ballroom whilst the rest are done. An orchestra plays throughout. We followed Sir Bruce Forsyth out to the quadrangle where photographs were taken. The television cameras which were there were not for us!!

It was an absolutely fantastic day which we will remember for a very long time.

By Maggie Titmuss