15-05-2025
Royal welcome as Princess Anne makes surprise visit to Derry
She is carrying out a series of engagements in the city.
It started with a visit to the Cathedral Youth Club and Community Hub in the Fountain estate.
Opened in 1972, the Cathedral Youth Club was awarded The King's Award for Voluntary Service in 2024.
In 2021 a community garden project in the Fountain also won a prestigious accolade.
The Bastion Community Allotment was named the winner of the My Chelsea Community Garden Competition live on BBC's The One Show.
The horticultural competition is organised by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).
The youth club has been providing community activities and initiatives for over 50 years, including programmes for older people, such as: art classes, patchwork classes, Irish history classes, IT classes, and inter-generational programmes, sports and Healthy Living programmes.
They also provide an Active Families programme which includes counselling, cooking, health eating and a homework club and deliver cross community/cross border community relations programmes, as well as a community allotment programme, community festivals and celebration events.
Following this, Anne will attend a small reception for the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic.
During World War Two, Derry and the River Foyle were of immense strategic importance and played a major role in the 'Battle of the North Atlantic'.
The North Atlantic became the crucial supply line for food and munitions to Britain during that period and, in recognition of Derry's vital role for the Allies in the conflict, it was decided that the River Foyle should be the location of the formal U-Boat surrender.
Events to mark the 80th anniversary are taking place in the area from May 15 to 18.
