Princess Anne gives new Lanarkshire play park the Royal stamp and meets with travelling community

The people of Lanarkshire gave HRH The Princess Royal a warm welcome when she stopped off in Motherwell and East Kilbride on Friday.

Princess Anne gave Ravenscraig's new play park the royal seal of approval, unveiling a plaque to officially open the new £3.7m public park called The Craig.

She was received by Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Lanarkshire, Lady Haughey, and met pupils from Brannock High and Our Lady & St Francis Primary.

Provost Jean Jones and others involved in the development also greeted HRH, including Bobbi Arnott who runs the Food Lovers Café.

Afterwards, the Princess Royal travelled via a heavily guarded police escort to East Kilbride where she visited the council’s traveller site at Springbank in Kirktonholme.

Her Royal Highness officially opens 'the Craig' (Jacqui Bradley)

A police training exercise - that had many locals wondering what was going on - was carried out at the Whirlies roundabout in East Kilbride last Monday in preparation for the Royal visit.

While in the town she heard more about the award-winning work being done to support the community.

HRH was received by Gavin Whitefield, Deputy Lieutenant of Lanarkshire, council representatives, politicians, and the families who live there.

The Princess Royal met with travelling families who have been welcomed by the East Kilbride community (South Lanarkshire Council)

The Royal visit came just weeks after South Lanarkshire Council picked up a prestigious award for their work at the traveller site.

Housing and Technical Resources picked up a gong at this year’s COSLA Excellence Awards for their work delivering consistently high levels of customer services at the site during the pandemic.

Her Royal Highness was received by Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Lanarkshire the Lady Haughey and North Lanarkshre provost, Jean Jones (Jacqui Bradley)

Officers maintained regular contact with the area’s two sites – in East Kilbride and Larkhall – and worked closely with other council departments to ensure that the communities were safe and had access to the support and resources they needed.

Judges noted the service’s work in partnership with those living at the sites.

A young boy from the travelling community presented the Princess with flowers (South Lanarkshire Council)

The town's MP, Lisa Cameron, told Lanarkshire Live : "It was wonderful to welcome HRH Princess Anne to East Kilbride this week to meet with residents from the travelling community who were able to speak about their pride regarding the development of their site and their positive engagement in our local community."

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