Seventy one 90 year olds who were born the same year as Her Majesty the Queen will be guests of honour at North Yorkshire’s official Queen’s Birthday service taking place this Sunday June 12th at Ripon Cathedral.
The ‘nonagenarians’ will join a congregation of hundreds who have been invited to Ripon Cathedral for a major service to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday by the Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Barry Dodd CBE, and the Dean, the Very Revd John Dobson. They include civic leaders and church leaders from across the county, along with military and community representatives.
The preacher at the service - which begins at 3.30pm - will be the Bishop of Leeds, Rt Revd Nick Baines, and music will be led by the Cathedral Choir and the 21 strong band of the Yorkshire Regiment based in Huddersfield. In addition a piper will also play, Private Edwards of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
Before the service a procession will gather at Ripon’s Market Square at 3pm before walking to the Cathedral. And despite hundreds of invitations being accepted, the Dean of Ripon says everyone is welcome. “Seven hundred people have accepted an invitation from the Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, but we are making sure that we have a couple of hundred seats for people who just turn up.”
Dean John Dobson added, “It’s a privilege for us to be hosting the service for the whole county. People from across the whole county will be gathering here to celebrate the Queen’s 90 birthday and give thanks for her, both her length of days and her quality of days - thinking about the ways she has been dedicated to public service and through that revealed the quality of her own Christian discipleship and Christian faith which we would want to celebrate.”
The North Yorkshire service is just one of hundreds of events to celebrate the Queen’s birthday this weekend. To see what’s happening in your area go to our Royal webpage here