Morrisons' Littlehampton community champion meets King Charles on his tour of the company's HQ

Alison Whitburn was one of five community champions invited to Morrisons HQ in Bradford for the King's visit yesterday.

She said: "It was an amazing day, meeting the King. He was lovely and spoke to the five of us. It was a privilege to have been there."

Alison was honoured with a British Empire Medal in the Queen’s New Years Honours List in 2022 for her tireless commitment to helping those in her local community.

In his speech, the King said: "All the work being done by the community champions has been enormously heartening... to see the kind of things you do within your communities is so special. So I can only thank you for all of that."

Alison said: "This quote from his speech will mean so much to every single one of the team of community champions who are making such a huge difference in their community.

"We couldn’t believe it when King Charles actually said this about us."

King Charles wished Morrisons staff an early ‘happy Christmas’ as he headed through West Yorkshire during his two-day royal tour.

Charles toured the Bradford HQ of the supermarket giant on Wednesday, November 9, as hundreds of staff gathered to watch from balconies and stairwells. It was his first visit to the region since becoming king.

As he arrived at Morrisons, he chatted to people who worked at stores around the region, telling them: “Thank-you for your wonderful efforts. I hope they let you off at Christmas.”

Later, in a short speech, he told the staff: “It’s a great joy to see you all today. I had no idea quite how many of you worked here at Morrisons.”

After discussing his tour and work he had heard about in the community, the King said: “I can only thank you for all that, wish you every possible success in the future and, eventually, a really happy Christmas ahead.”

The King then left Morrisons for further engagements in Bradford city centre and Leeds.