THE former manager of a Salisbury takeaway was recognised for her services to the community during Covid-19 with a special royal invite.

Rowsonara Begum attended the Queen's Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday, May 25 following her work via her family’s business, Saffron Indian Takeaway, and other voluntary work during the pandemic.

During the pandemic Saffron Takeaway, which is located on Wilton Road, gave free meals to the NHS workers at Salisbury District Hospital as well as vaccination centre volunteers at City Hall.

Rowsonara said: "It is such a privilege and honour to receive this and I thank my team and family at Saffron for their hard work and dedication to help the serve the community in Salisbury during the Covid-19 pandemic and the NHS staff."

The event was attended by The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton and Prince Williams who talked to the crowd.

"The palace gardens were so beautiful and it was nice to talk to inspiring people from different walks of life and hear about their journeys," added Rowsonara.

She said the food was "lovely", which included an Indian summer wrap, traditional scone with blackcurrant jam and clotted cream as well as smoke salmon and lemon cream cheese mini bagels.

She added: "Despite the rainy weather, everyone was in high spirits. This was a once in a lifetime experience especially as I had the opportunity of attending during the Platinum Jubilee year. I never thought I'd experience something like this in my life."

The former High Sheriff of Wiltshire awarded the team at Saffron with Certificates of Appreciation for providing meals to the NHS during the pandemic.

The royal garden party invite was also in recognition of Rowsonara's other voluntary work which included being involved in discussions with the Cabinet Office about business support for ethnic minority small businesses for the Federation of Small Businesses.

Saffron Indian Takeaway is continuing to offer discounts to NHS staff since the pandemic.

 

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