IN this week’s column, Warrington South Tory MP Andy Carter discusses the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

As we begin the celebrations to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, I want to offer my warmest congratulations to Her Majesty, whose 70 years of public service to our country and to the rest of the Commonwealth is truly an inspiration to us all.

It’s hard to comprehend the immense changes that have taken place in those seven decades since she succeeded her father back in 1952 – most of us alive today will never have known any different monarch.

The Queen remains not only the longest reigning and longest lived British monarch, but also the last World War Two veteran head of state in the world, a truly remarkable feat.

I look forward to seeing Warrington come together to mark the Jubilee with what promises to be an exciting series of events.

I’m just about old enough to have memories of the Silver Jubilee back in 1977 – a joyous occasion which saw the nation come together with street parties and community spirit in the midst of a challenging period. It’s a spirit I’m sure we will see replicated in 2022 as we come off the back of two years of an incredibly difficult time in our history.

We’ve seen the British people play their part in the fight against Covid, making huge sacrifices on our personal freedoms and coming forward to take up the vaccine, ensuring we had one of the best rollouts in the world and allowing us to unlock faster than any other country.

It’s only fitting that now we are able to properly come together to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee with all the fanfare and sense of togetherness it deserves.

We’re lucky in Warrington to have had the Queen come to visit us on no less than four occasions – in 1968 when she was given a tour of the newly refurbished Bridge Street; in 1979 when she and her late husband the Duke of Edinburgh toured the new Golden Square; in 1998 when she visited the newly opened Hollins Park Hospital; and most recently in 2012 when she and Prince Philip opened the Orford Park Jubilee Hub in the year marking her Diamond Jubilee.

The June period promises to be an exciting and eventful time to mark this unique moment in our history, one which we will almost certainly never see again.

I hope everyone gets to take part in the celebrations and has a fantastic Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend.