On May 12, 1967, Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived in the town - on the itinerary was a visit to Rugby School, BTH and to open the Queen Elizabeth Gates to The Close in Barby Road.

A contemporaneous report of the royal visit to the BTH works reads: "Some 4,000 people, wives and familes of workpeople, and a group of retired employees, gave Her Majesty an enthusiastic welcome when the royal car came slowly up the works drive."

The royal couple then toured the site, seeing the array of impressive products being built by Rugbeians - including parts for a nuclear reactor, a power station and for nuclear submarine H.M.S Churchill.

Once the tour was over the Queen was presented with bouquet of roses by Ruth Wallis, the five-year-old daughter of the works manager.

A witness to the event wrote: "The occasion will be long remembered by those at Rugby Works, particularly the charm and dignity of the Queen and the evident interest shown by her and the Duke in the people and the products of Rugby Works."

Clearly, the Queen's trademark brightly-coloured clothing made an impression, with one workman saying afterwards: "Amid the drab environs of the works, the Queen looked radiant."

Though this was the Queen's first (and only) official visit to Rugby, the Duke of Edinburgh had been once before when, in 1964 he toured the Lodge factory of Smiths' Spark Plug and Ceramics Division, arriving by the Royal Train at Rugby station.