King Charles to visit Luton next week

The King will be visiting Luton Town Hall, the newly built Guru Nanak Gurdwara and taking a trip on the Luton Dart on December 6.

It is believed to be the first time he has been to the area since 1998 when, as the Prince of Wales, he visited Marsh Farm.

At Luton Town Hall he will be greeted by Mrs Susan Lousada, Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire and Councillor Sameera Saleem, Mayor of Luton.

Outside the town hall His Majesty will have the opportunity to meet local groups and members of the public, including representatives from The Ghana Society, Royal British Legion, the Luton Town Football Academy, veterans, and cadets.

Moving inside the town hall, The King will meet Luton Council Representatives and sign the Visitors’ Book before going on to meet invited guests from a range of voluntary and community organisations, including Festus Akinbusoye, Bedfordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner.

The King will also be introduced to Mandy Johnson, an artist who has been commissioned by the council to produce illustrations in support of its work on social justice.

At the Gurdwara he will be greeted by Professor Gurch Randhawa, member of the Sikh Congregation at the Gurdwara, Deputy Lieutenant and Director of the Institute for Health Research at the University of Bedfordshire

With local primary school children and congregation members outside, His Majesty will proceed to the Luton Sikh Soup Kitchen Stand – speaking to volunteers to understand the impact that food poverty is having on the local community.

Meeting volunteers who run the Sikh School, he will also speak to children who are learning Punjabi and traditional music. His Majesty will also meet local GP’s who ran the Vaisakhi Vaccine Clinic during the pandemic.

The King will meet volunteers who operate the 24-hour kitchen and feed members of the local community.

From there he will head to The Dart to be greeted by Mark Turner, Service Director, Luton Rising and Monitoring Office, and representatives of Luton Council and Luton Rising.

With Luton Youth Orchestra playing he will meet groups of apprentices who worked on the DART and across Luton Town, many of whom have transitioned to permanent employment. His Majesty will also meet authors of Luton’s Employability and Skills Strategy – which sets out how teams and organisations across Luton are collaboratively working to upskill local people and provide permanent employment in Luton.

The King will then proceed into the Control Room and be shown technology used to run the DART.

His Majesty will then be welcomed by individuals from the Luton Carnival Centre for Arts alongside organisations benefitting from Luton Rising Funding.

The King will meet David Randall, DART Operational Readiness and hear more about the DART’s environmental strategy, the long-term sustainability of the programme and benefits to the environment. Luton Rising’s approach to controlling the environmental impacts of airport growth will be explained to His Majesty by Graham Olver, CEO of Luton Rising.

His Majesty will then board the DART for a three-minute journey to Luton DART Central Terminal.

Alighting the DART, His Majesty will be greeted by the Luton Airport Community including members of the Ukrainian Welcome Hub Team.

He is expected to unveil plaques at all three sites.