Poignant tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II from three Tunbridge Wells residents have been published on my new podcast, West Kent Talking.

The three interviews were with the Mayors of Southborough and Tunbridge Wells and a former magistrate, Peter Blackwell. They were recorded for West Kent Radio in the days following the monarch’s death in September.

Peter Blackwell (pictured below with hat and medal) was born in Tunbridge Wells in 1944 and worked as a local telephone engineer.

Peter Blackwell became a magistrate in Tunbridge Wells in 1971, before giving decades of service on the bench, which led to a memorable conversation with the Queen in 2006. He recounted how the Queen jokingly advised him to behave himself.

On the podcast you can also listen to the Mayor of Tunbridge Wells, Godfrey Bland, who was one of the first people to see the new Queen Elizabeth in Kenya in 1952. Plus the Mayor of Southborough, Dianne Hill, talks about how the Queen helped lift women’s status in British society.

The podcast also replays the official Proclamation ceremony held in Tunbridge Wells on 11th September 2022 – spectators shown below.

You can listen to the podcast on this link.

Earlier podcasts contained:
Episode 1: Organic Apple production in West Kent plus 5 other items
Episode 2: Controversy over house building plans on green fields in Capel
Episode 3: Greg Clark MP talks about why he went into politics and current issues

This is the video link to the Proclamation ceremony in Tunbridge Wells held on 11th September.

And here are the links to the earlier podcasts: