THERE was a full itinerary for the Duke of Kent when he visited the Island on Tuesday to meet some of the businesses who have been awarded the prestigious Queen’s Award for Industry.
The Duke of Kent
The Duke flew into Yarmouth by helicopter and was met by the Queen’s representative on the Island, Major General Lord Lieutenant Martin White.
Yarmouth Lifeboat was his first port of call in his capacity as president of the RNLI. He then visited the software firm PhysE and was shown a presentation about wave modeling in Yarmouth Harbour.
In Newport the Duke visited RF Engines at St Cross Business Party where he met the High Sheriff Gay Edwards, leader of the council David Pugh, chairman of the council Arthur Taylor and MP Andrew Turner and had lunch.
Finally the Duke made a visit to Inflight Peripherals Ltd who specialise in electronic equipment for aircraft seating. Managing Director Geoff Underwood and director Claire Underwood hosted the visit.
IFPL won the Queen’s Award in 2008 when Geoff and Claire attended Buckingham Palace and were presented to the Queen and Prince Phillip.
“At the reception we spoke with Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent. Apparently he remembered us and when his trip to the IW was being arranged, (to visit the two companies who received the award in 2009) he said he would like to visit our company as well,” said Claire Underwood.
“HRH has previously been the UK’s special representative for International trade & Investment. This is relevant because our award is officially The Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade - We export 95% of our products,” she added.
HRH also met Geoff Underwood’s father, John Underwood because his role as Deputy Chief Engineer on the only UK British Rocket programmes, built on the IW, was instrumental in encouraging Geoff to become an engineer.
After being shown some of the firm’s products and trying out one of Inflight’s aircraft seats, the Duke was taken to Seaclose Park to catch his helicopter at around 3pm.
