Village feels left out of Prince's visit
IT is set to be one of the biggest events of the year for a sleepy Suffolk village.But residents in Tunstall say they didn't know anything about the visit of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall next week - and complain they have been “snubbed”.
Danielle Nuttall
IT is set to be one of the biggest events of the year for a sleepy Suffolk village.
But residents in Tunstall say they didn't know anything about the visit of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall next week - and complain they have been “snubbed”.
May Allen, clerk to Tunstall Parish Council, said the first the village had heard of the royal visit was when she read it in a newspaper and said nobody from the council had been notified or invited.
The Prince of Wales and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall will be making their first visit to east Suffolk as a couple on Thursday when their travel to Southwold, Blythburgh and Snape.
Their agenda includes a trip to the Snape Maltings site, in Tunstall, which is undergoing a huge transformation with the conversion of old maltings into flats and a £14million music development.
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But there the main emphasis will be on meeting the people behind the products that are putting Suffolk on the food map.
Mrs Allen said: “It would have been nice for the people of Tunstall, as he's coming to the parish, to have heard something - it's not unreasonable.
“It would be rather nice if it had been recognised that Snape Maltings is in the parish of Tunstall. As it's called Snape Maltings most people think it's in Snape but it's not.
“The first I heard of it was in a newspaper the other day. You would have thought that the clerk (of the parish council) would hear or the chairman invited and it would be nice for the people of Tunstall to know about it.
“I would have thought this is a one-off event. It's a very small village. We just thought possibly some of the people in Tunstall would feel a bit snubbed.”
But Valerie Hill, from the Suffolk Lieutenancy Office, said nobody had been snubbed.
“Security of royal visits is such that until Clarence House issues the press release we cannot tell anyone because it's confidential,” she said.
“His Royal Highness is coming with a specific objective which is to meet local producers and the farmers' market at Snape is just that. He's also going to look at buildings in Snape.
“We do not feel we have snubbed anybody. It's a public visit and anyone can come along and are very welcome. Everyone at Snape Maltings would be pleased to welcome everyone along.
“We would love to see them on the day.”
