The Duchess of Cornwall visits Banbury

Today, The Duchess carried out engagements in Banbury. In her role as President, Her Royal Highness first visited the Royal Voluntary Service at Cornhill Centre. The Royal Voluntary Service is one of the largest volunteering organisations in the country to date, inspiring and enabling over 3 million people to give their time to help others to meet the needs of the day.

During the visit, The Duchess met the centre’s youngest volunteers, 7 year-old Amelia and 5 year-old Bobby. Her Royal Highness later joined one of the centre’s volunteer-run activities, an international dance class. Each week an average of 25 people attend the class and take part in a range of international dances including line dancing, folk and circle dances. They encourage older people to stay active but also to socialise at least once a week.

Following this, The Duchess visited Second Time Around, a furniture store and tearoom, which provides training and volunteering opportunities to promote work, social inclusion and independence for adults with learning disabilities. Following a tour of the various shop units and stalls, Her Royal Highness met an apprentice, who was restoring furniture in the workshop. Second Time Around have a strong ethos on the environment and promotes the reuse of furniture by offering a commissioning service where customers can choose how their items are restored.