Catford: Youngsters chanted "we love the Queen" at the top of their voices, as thousands of people lined the streets of Catford for the Royal visit.

Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh attended the Broadway Theatre, as part of the Jubilee celebrations.

Pupils from across the borough, including those at St Saviour's Primary School, waved flags and banners as the Queen arrived to reopen the theatre, which her father, King George VI, originally opened 70 years ago, to the day.

St Saviour's teacher Oliver Pereira, who wore Union Jack socks and hat as he waited in the crowd, said: "We love the Queen at our school. There are about 120 pupils here today."

Pupils Elizabeth Bradley, eight, and Helen Allwood, nine, both said: "It is brilliant. We are very happy and excited to see her."

During her tour of the theatre, the Queen met singer and comedian Max Bygraves and the Beverley Sisters, who were reunited for a recreation of the 1952 Royal Variety Performance, that afternoon.

Max Bygraves, who used to cycle to Lewisham Palladium as a youngster, said: "In 1952 we all appeared in the Royal Variety Show and now we are here in Lewisham with Her Majesty, back together again."

Speaking before an impromptu song and dance for the Queen, Beverley Sister Teddie said: "We did the Queen's first ever Royal Command Performance with Max, since then we have been singing in her reign."

She added: "It feels wonderful to be here, it's a really great, thriving theatre."

In the Broadway Bar the Queen watched a rendition of Something Inside So Strong by youngsters from Kender Primary School, before meeting 97-year-old Leonard Fortune, who wrote to her 50 years ago during another golden jubilee.

In 1953, as chairman of the Utopian Operatic Society, he wrote to the Queen about the society's jubilee celebrations, in Catford, and said it would be a privilege to meet her.

Mr Fortune, 97, whose last stage appearance was in Lewisham in 1933, said: "I'm absolutely delighted, I never thought this day would come.

"When I wrote to her 50 years ago it never crossed my mind that we would still both be here."

As the Queen left the theatre, she was presented with two pictures of Treetops on behalf of London's Kenyan community.

July 10, 2002 13:30