Lord Lieutenant visits primary school for rehearsals ahead of Platinum Jubilee culture event

Snowdon and Cllr Watts Stelling, Chairman of Durham County Council, visited Shotton Primary School to see rehearsals taking place for A Right Royal Do, which will see almost 300 children from seven different schools in the county perform at Durham’s Gala Theatre net month.

The event will celebrate The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and her links with the Commonwealth. A Right Royal Do is being organised by Durham County Council, providing an opportunity to give thanks for The Queen’s seven decades of public service and recognising her impact on both the UK and the Commonwealth.

Organised with the help of GemArts, the shows will begin with a welcome by Vikas Kumar MBE, GemArts’ director, before traditional Kutchipudi dance from South Asia from Payal Ramchandani and pupils from across County Durham.

African drumming will then take place with Fanuel Kapumha and pupils from Shotton Primary School, before a performance of Bollywood dance with Shazia Noor and pupils from other primary schools. Steel pan drumming will be performed by Lizzie Lowe and pupils from Ribbon Academy, in Murton.

Gospel choral singing with April Olatunji and pupils from Finchale Primary School will be performed before a mass singing section brings the events to a close.

Heather Shaw, headteacher at Shotton Primary School, said: “The children knew how special it was to have two such important visitors take time out of their day to find out more about our planned Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

“Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant and Cllr Stelling even joined in, much to our pupils’ delight. We hope they enjoyed their visit to Shotton Primary as much as we enjoyed them coming to us.

“We are looking forward to performing at the Gala Theatre even more now knowing that the Lord Lieutenant will be watching us as representative of Her Majesty the Queen.”

A Right Royal Do will be performed for schools at the Gala Theatre on Tuesday, June 14, at 12.45pm, with another performance for parents, carers and the public at 5.30pm.

A limited number of free tickets for the second show will be available on the day from the Gala Durham box office.