TOOT TOOT: Toddler Robert Thirst with his parents and grandmother.
Eastern Daily Press, Thursday, November 9, 2000
Queen can follow the band, says toddler
By Steve Downes
TOOT TOOT: Toddler Robert Thirst with his parents
and grandmother.
Anyone with a
two-year-old boy will know that toddlers are no respecters of occasion or
status.
So when a Norfolk family went to Buckingham Palace to see the Queen for a
poignant MBE ceremony they felt a sense of trepidation.
And two-year-old Robert Thirst did not let them down. As the Queen handed over
the MBE awarded to his late grandfather Gerald Thirst, little Robert fearlessly
turned tail to go and see the band of the Irish Guardsmen that was playing in
the next room - with a cry of "see toot-toot now."
Fortunately, the Queen showed her experience as a grandmother by laughing it
off, and finding out that "toot-toot" was Robert's expression for a
band.
Tuesday's visit saw Robert joined by his parents Tim and Tricia Thirst, and
Tim's mother Yvonne - widow of Gerald, the record-breaking bandmaster who died
in April at the age of 84, three months before he was due to pick up his
hard-earned MBE.
Tim, of East Ruston, near Stalham, said: "The Queen really made us feel at
ease. You could tell she loved children. She said she was very pleased to
present the MBE in person.
"She talked to mother about father, and chatted about the 50 years he spent
leading the Stalham Brass Band."
Mr Thirst's half-century stint made him a Guiness World Record Holder, and he
was made an MBE in the last New Year Honours for service to music and the
community.
Tim, who took over as band conductor in 1998, said: "He deserved this
accolade and he would have wanted us to be there.
"But, however nice it is, I would rather be sitting on a bench having a
chat with him."