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Princess of Wales picks up passenger, 94, on bus

Catherine EvansSouth East
Reuters Catherine, Princess of Wales sits on the West Sussex Minibus with passengers, with the side door open. She is smiling.Reuters
The West Sussex Minibus service relies on a team of volunteers

The Princess of Wales has helped pick up a 94-year-old rural minibus user as she celebrated the 50th anniversary of the service.

Catherine travelled to the village of Pulborough to mark the milestone occasion for the West Sussex Minibus, whose team of volunteers transport the elderly across the area in a fleet of vehicles.

Stella Drewett, 94, said before the princess arrived that she was not fazed by anything, and joked: "When they said 'It will be a celebrity,' I said 'I don't know any celebrities'."

Catherine had been picked up by the minibus in the village and arrived at the home of the retired school cook before helping her board the bus.

Reuters Catherine, Princess of Wales, dressed in a long grey coat, walks down a garden path with an woman using a walking frame.Reuters
The princess made sure passenger Stella Drewett got on the bus safely

Drewett, a new user of the service, said she travels on the minibus for her weekly shopping trip and a lunch held every Wednesday at the Pulborough village hall.

The princess walked to her front door and said: "Good morning", before helping her manoeuvre her walking frame along the garden path and onto the minibus, telling her: "Well done."

When asked about her trips out for lunch, the 94-year-old quipped that they meant "one day of not cooking".

The Sun/PA The Princess of Wales laughs with Lynda Jones, 74, during a visit to the West Sussex Minibus Service, a volunteer-led community transport organisation, which acts as a vitThe Sun/PA
The Princess of Wales laughed with Lynda Jones, 74, as they chatted during the lunch

At the weekly Pulborough and District Community Care Association lunch in the village hall, regular Lynda Jones told the princess that the event "makes a lot of difference if you've lost your partner".

She added that the princess was "a natural".

Chatting at the table, Catherine said: "What a lovely way to make friends."

Alan Jenkins, trustee at West Sussex Minibus, told BBC Radio Sussex: "She's done a fantastic job talking to our members.

"It's really to promote what our volunteers do for the slightly older generation, which is fantastic.

"She's done a great job and we're so pleased to have her here."

Before leaving Pulborough, Catherine played a jumping game with two little boys - Arthur, aged three, and his one-year-old brother Albie.

Their mother Thea, 25, said: "She was lovely, I didn't expect her to be playing with my children."

Additional reporting by PA Media.

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