A WOMAN from the North-East joined the Queen at Buckingham Palace to help mark the 50th anniversary of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.

Andie Harris, of Oakenshaw, near Willington, County Durham, was able to study and travel across Europe after being selected for a Churchill fellowship in 2009.

The Queen is patron of the trust, which has awarded more than 5,000 fellowships since 1965.

Those lucky enough to be selected get to travel overseas to study areas of topical and personal interest.

Ms Harris, 44, a Learning and Skills Manager at North of England Civic Trust, travelled to Romania, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Belgium in order to examine heritage conservation skills.

She was one of 300 fellows chosen from every decade since 1965, to be invited to the palace to celebrate the anniversary.

“I was thrilled and honoured to be invited," she said. "It was a once in a lifetime event, that will never be forgotten.

“It was a privilege to be presented to The Queen and to later have an opportunity to chat with her about the impact of my fellowship and the future of heritage craft skills.”

During the visit Ms Harris also spoke to the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke of Gloucester as well as Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.

This was her second visit to the palace, having attended The Queens Garden Party in 2014 as a trustee of the Heritage Crafts Association.

Jamie Balfour, director general of the trust, said: “We were delighted and honoured that the Queen hosted a reception to mark our anniversary year.”