King meets refugees on visit to food bank
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The King was welcomed by refugees and nursery pupils waving homemade flags as he visited a community food bank. Charles visited The Gate, a community resource in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, which provides support to people facing homelessness and food insecurity.
He was greeted by refugees from Turkey and Syria, and was given an enthusiastic hug by the first woman he met on his walkabout on Thursday. He joked about ageing with one volunteer who is of a similar age. Wearing traditional Scottish dress including a kilt, Charles arrived by helicopter from Dumfries House, East Ayrshire, and was then driven to the community centre, greeted by crowds shouting “God save the King”, while protesters who were cordoned off from the event shouted: “Not my King.”.
He met trustees and volunteers at The Gate, which helped 4,273 people in Clackmannanshire last year and provided 190 food parcels per month, and admired the sponge cakes on offer at the community cafe. Upon meeting volunteer Hugh Grant, secretary of local refugees charity Forth Valley Welcome, the 76-year-old King told him: “You are not going to be 75 – it’s bad enough when you get to 76, it’s slightly alarming.
“You don’t stop, do you?”. He later met a Turkish man who told him that his Syrian wife is pregnant. During his walkabout, Charles was greeted by a group of nursery children with homemade crowns and flags, who had been practising curtsies. Emma Hunter, four, said: “I made a smiley face for my crown. We’ve been on the bus to get here.”.
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