AFTER not visiting Swindon for 26 years, the Queen made two trips to the town in less thana year at the end of the 1990s.
After coming to the town in 1997 to visit Gorse Hill Infants’ School and the town centre, she returned in October 1998 to open the new £82m Motorola factory at Groundwell.
This visit was much shorter than her Gorse Hill trip the year before but still attracted a crowd at the factory.
The week before her visit to the factory, the former mayor of Highworth, councillor Martin Kender, labelled the building as Swindon’s worst eyesore and a blot on the landscape.
However, after a guided tour of the building, the Queen told Motorola employees: “I would like to congratulate you on this remarkable building.”
Referring to Swindon’s pioneering past, she added: “I would like to think you are following in the footsteps of generations of scientists and engineers.
“I shall follow your progress with great interest.”
The building made a brief appearance in the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here