4 July 2002: The Queen is awarded a gold disc during a day of engagements in South London During a busy day of engagements in South London, The Queen received a gold disc from the UK recording industry. The award recognised large sales of a CD featuring music from The Queen's Golden Jubilee Weekend celebrations. It was handed to The Queen in Croydon. Tony Wadsworth, Chief Executive Officer of EMI Records Music UK, presented The Queen with the disc, for sales of the CD of 'Party at the Palace', the pop concert held at Buckingham Palace on 3 June. Sales reached gold disc numbers - 100,000 - within a few days of the CD going on sale. The presentation took place in appropriate surroundings, at the Brit School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon. The Brit School specialises in the performing arts and their technologies. Its pupils study arts including music, media, art and design or production design. The Brit School is the only one of its kind in Britain offering 14 to 19-year-olds free training in these arts, together with a general education covering National Curriculum subjects. The Queen and Prince Philip toured the school separately. The Queen visited an English lesson, saw stage make-up being applied, watched a dance rehearsal and saw a recording studio in action. Prince Philip joined a science and IT lesson, watched a media lesson in the television studio, and saw a dance rehearsal. The day had begun on a show business note at the Broadway Theatre in Catford. The theatre was opened 70 years ago by The Queen's father, King George VI, who was still Duke of York. Inside the theatre The Queen and Prince Philip met veteran stars Max Bygraves and the Beverley Sisters, dressed in 1950's clothes. They were rehearsing for a specially-recreated Royal Variety Performance taking place later in the day. After two show-business engagements, The Queen and Prince Philip travelled to Addington Palace, Addington, near Croydon, for some historic reflection. The Royal party attended a reception and lunch for representatives of South London boroughs inside the historic manor house, which was a former country retreat of the Archbishops of Canterbury. In the afternoon, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh travelled to Crystal Palace for separate visits. The Queen visited Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, where Her Majesty watched the London Heathrow Mini Games for primary school children. The Mini Games are part of the Youth Games which started in 1977 as part of The Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations and are now Europe's largest youth sports event. Around 2,500 eight to 11-year-olds from 240 schools across 33 London boroughs were competing in eight different sports. The Queen watched a relay race and met games participants before joining a group photograph with 32 children from the South London Boroughs. Her Majesty also presented gold, silver and bronze 'Olympic-style' medals to children in the hockey competition. The Duke of Edinburgh meanwhile walked with dinosaurs during a visit to Crystal Palace Park. Inside the park were 29 life-size concrete model dinosaurs and prehistoric reptiles, originally modelled in Victorian times, which have been restored at the Dinosaur Park and Time Trail with the aid of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant. The Duke was escorted around the park by palaeontologist Professor Peter Doyle from the University of Greenwich. The pre-historic theme extended to the greenery, as the park was planted with pre-historic style vegetation.  En route, His Royal Highness saw a children's dinosaur parade and a school steel band. Prince Philip also met people involved in the restoration of the park, and met park staff and representatives from schools and the local community. The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh met up at the end of the day to return to Buckingham Palace by car. Back to July index