People of Uley enjoy visit from Prince charming (From Gazette Series)

HRH Prince Charles' visit to Uley Community Store and Post Office went down a treat with villagers

8:40am Thursday 28th February 2013 in News By Daniel Chipperfield

THE Prince of Wales showed his humorous side on his visit to Uley and charmed the crowds with his commitment to meet as many of them as possible.

Prince Charles spent over an hour talking to onlookers, shared jokes with the volunteers and shook as many hands as he could, despite only scheduling half an hour for the unveiling of Uley Community Store and Post Office.

The villagers clearly enjoyed his visit last Friday, cheering for the duration of his stay and sending the Heir Apparent away with souvenirs, gifts and three cheers as his car departed.

On his walk through the crowd the Prince was introduced to a gentleman from Uley who he had met before.

Michael Dauncey, 93, who lives on The Street with his wife Marjory, met the Prince when he was a brigadier in the Cheshire Regiment and showed him a photo of themselves proving so.

"I think it's marvellous that he does this, it is good of him to spend so much time in such a little village when he must be so busy," he said.

"He’s a wonderful man and I admire him immensely."

Christine Bebbington works as a volunteer at the shop and presented the Duke of Cornwall with a book her husband, Alan, had written on the history of Uley and told him the story behind it.

"I explained to him that my husband wasn’t really an English graduate but he was quite an expert on sea slugs, but there aren’t many sea slugs in Uley so he did the book instead," she said.

"The Prince said he would never think about sea slugs the same way again!

"He was very easy going, very pleasant altogether, very interested in us."

Children from Uley Primary School, complete with their Union Jacks, took a lot of the attention from the Prince as they presented him with several large posters showing pictures and signatures of the children as well as a portrait of the Prince himself.

Pupil Daisy-Mage Harris, eight, from Woodfields, said: "We did lots of pictures of the landmarks of Uley and put pictures of sheep and cows and cars around because that’s what we can see from our window.

"We also made flags to wave which was great fun."

Seven-year-old Harrison Boxall from The Green in Uley said: "It was fun, he was really smiley and he seemed very nice. I was really excited to give the card."

Reception teacher Katharine Priest, Hardwicke, said she was relieved when the Prince asked if they enjoyed school and they said yes.

"He was really pleasant, very warming," she said.

"The fact he made the time and made the effort to see the children gave it a completely different experience for them.

"They have been really looking forward to it, they have been counting down the days."

Follow the link to the side of the article to see a full gallery of pictures from the event.