Members of staff from Royal Star & Garter, who attended a Buckingham Palace Garden Party on Victory in Europe (VE) Day, were proud to be there on behalf of all the veterans cared for by the charity.

Surbiton Home Nurse Hazel Agustin and Solihull Home Physiotherapist Nickie Harrison attended the afternoon event on 8 May – 79 years after Nazi Germany’s surrender and the end of war in Europe.

Royal Star & Garter provides loving, compassionate care to veterans and their partners living with disability or dementia, from Homes in Solihull, Surbiton and High Wycombe, including some who served during WWII. The charity has also launched new services which reach out into the community.

Among the members of the royal family attending the Garden Party were Their Majesties The King and Queen, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and Her Royal Highness Princess Anne.

Hazel and Nickie were part of 14 frontline staff selected by the National Care Forum, a membership group which represents not-for-profit organisations in the care and support sector, including Royal Star & Garter.

It was both Hazel and Nickie’s first time at Buckingham Palace, and at a royal Garden Party. Afterwards, Hazel said: “It was a special day and I am really very honoured and proud to have been there representing Royal Star & Garter and our wonderful residents. And for it to also be on VE Day made a special occasion that little bit more special.”

‘I felt great pride in representing our residents’

Nickie said: “VE Day is an important day at Royal Star & Garter, and when I told the Solihull residents that I would be attending the Buckingham Palace Garden Party, they were very excited and happy for me. It was a great occasion with just the most amazing atmosphere. I felt great pride in representing our residents on a day that means so much to them.”

Royal Star & Garter is welcoming new residents into its three Homes. For more information about this, the new services it is providing, or to work for the charity, go to www.starandgarter.org