Princess meets Amberley Museum volunteers and tells them they are what makes the difference

The visit on Thursday, December 5, gave volunteers an opportunity to meet the Princess Royal and chat with her about their work.

One, Ken Wood, presented her with a wooden walking stick he had made by hand. The Princess immediately recognised it as hazel and thanked him profusely.

Ken said: "It is a hazel stick with a horses handle, carved out of walnut. I made it tall to be cut to size, like all our sticks. The basic stick takes four to five hours but the carving can take many more."

The visit was an opportunity to meet a number of the long-standing and dedicated museum volunteers to recognise their outstanding contribution, as well as to celebrate the King’s Award for Voluntary Service, presented earlier this year.

The Princess was driven up to the Railway Exhibition Hall, where she was greeted by the Lord-Lieutenant of West Sussex, Lady Emma Barnard, and introduced to museum director Katrina Burton, chair of trustees Surrie Everett-Pascoe, and local dignitaries.

They joined her on a tour of the site, starting with viewing the West Sussex County Council steam roller Joan, which was working until 1983 and will be 100 years old next year.

The Princess was then shown the Quarry Tunnel, which was transformed into the fictional Main Strike Mine during filming in September 1984 for the James Bond film A View to a Kill.

Volunteers from the wheelwrights and cycle shop gathered to chat with the Princess and she then moved on to look at the HD Steele garage from Worthing, before meeting the bus operations and bus engineering volunteers.

At the Worshipful Company of Plumbers, the volunteers told the Princess about the bespoke planting trough they made for Sandringham for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. She told them it was 'very handsome' and they said they would put her on the list for one, too.

She also met the West Sussex Woodturners in the area known as Greenwood Village and it was here that Ken presented the walking stick.

While volunteers gathered outside the restored bagging shed and loading bay, near the entrance, the Princess was given a private tour.

This late-19th century working building was once the heart of the busy Amberley chalk pit and limeworks where the museum has been developed. It was restored and made more accessible thanks to a grant from the DCMS Museum Estate and Development fund, administered by Arts Council.

Katrina Burton, museum director, said: "Little would the original owners of Amberley chalk pits have imagined we would be standing here, 150 years later, celebrating this achievement, having preserved and restored this very everyday industrial building.

"But that is exactly the point and the purpose behind this work and behind what we all do here at Amberley Museum. Our dedicated team of staff and volunteers work to bring to life the everyday story of working people across Sussex and beyond, and we are very proud to see that recognised."

The Princess Royal then performed the official opening by unveiling a plaque commemorating the visit.

The Princess Royal said: "I am delighted to join you for the final part of this part of the development of the museum site but also to congratulate you on your King’s Award for Voluntary Service.

"The number of volunteers here has made the difference in terms of the success of this museum and what you can see here, and what you can experience here, so thank you all very much indeed for making that possible and for making such good use of this site and the buildings that have been left here."