The Princess Royal will visit Newport in December to officially open the Norbroom Park skate park, it was announced this week.
Princess Anne will cut the ribbon on the park on December 1, - after youngsters sent a letter to Buckingham Palace asking Her Majesty the Queen to do the honours.
“It is just absolutely amazing,” said Marc Simpson, of Newport SK8 and Ride committee.
“When we realised that our dreams of having the skate park were actually going to happen we got the kids together and asked for their ideas for a grand opening.
“We wanted to make it a special event so we asked them which celebrity they would like to come along.
“One lad put his hand up and asked what a celebrity was, so I suggested that he thought of the most famous person he knew that could create a ‘wow factor.’
“Another lad said the Queen - so we said we would give it a go and together we wrote a letter to Buckingham Palace.
“Of course, we thought that would be the end of it but sure enough we received another letter back from the Queen’s social diary secretary.
“She thanked us for the invite but said she won’t be in Shropshire at all in 2010, so it was forwarded to Princess Anne.
“And now several months later, after a lot of work and badgering, here we are!”
Princess Anne is due at the park between 12.15pm - 12.30pm.
She will also visit Harper Adams University Collegeto open the £3m West Midlands Regional Food Acadmey on the same day.
It will be the first royal visit to the town since HRH Prince Edward opened the new science block at Adams’ Grammar School in 2007.
Mr Simpson was due to meet with the Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire today to discuss the details for the royal visit, but ideas are already being considered.
The skate park’s big launch date in June 2008 was a wash-out with the hired professionals unable to ride on the wet surface.
Mr Simpson added: “We are determined that the same thing doesn’t happen again.
“We have thought about hiring a marquee to cover the whole park.
“But I think what we will do is to have a marquee cover one ramp.
“That way, if it’s dry the performance can take place in the park - but if it is raining we have a back-up plan as well.”
By Sam Pinnington
