A DARLINGTON woman has recalled the day she shook hands with Prince Philip during a visit to the town in 1960.

Pauline Pickering, then Pauline Macdonald, was a teenager and a pupil at Eastbourne Secondary School.

The Duke of Edinburgh, who has died aged 99, visited the school in June 1960.

Now aged 75, she said: “I would have been coming up 15.

“I remember all of the girls in the school were lined up near the gates at the entrance. The girls were on one side and the boys on the other – we weren’t mixed.

“He came down and shook hands with us all.”

She added: “I just shook hands with him but he spoke to some of the girls. I remember I went home and said to my mam that I wasn’t going to wash my hands.

“I’m not a royalist but its quite important when you’re 15.

“I was delighted that day. It was lovely and it was nice for him to come and shake hands with us.

“He was quite dishy in those days.”

She also recalled the Northern Echo running a competition following the visit.

She said: “There was a photo of all the girls and put a circle around them. If your head was in the circle you got a £5 voucher. I didn’t get one but I think there was three that did.”