CROWDS braved mid-summer showers to watch the Duchess of Cornwall sail into Swindon to open a new canal landing stage.

The Duchess was in town to open the new Wichelstowe landing platform situated outside Waitrose, in Mill Lane.

Accompanied by mayor of Swindon Andrew Bennett and Wilts & Berks Canal Trust company secretary Chris Coyle, the Duchess arrived at the landing stage on Dragonfly, a traditional narrow-boat built by the trust that she named in 2010.

The regenerated landing stage is on a mile-long stretch of the original canal restored by volunteers from the trust, of which the Duchess is patron.

As she disembarked, she was met by 28 children from East Wichel Community Primary School with year six pupil Chloe Spencer, 11, selected to hand the Duchess a posy.

Chloe said: “She was really nice and I was really excited. She asked me how I was and I said I was fine.

“My mum and dad were really excited about me meeting her. I was a little bit nervous but she was so nice.”

Caroline Henham, headteacher at East Wichel Primary, brought children from every age group for the royal visit. She said the Duchess could not resist making a joke about the typically British weather that greeted her in Swindon.

“She was pleasant and smiling, apologising for the British weather we’ve been having,” she said.

“She spoke to everyone and I was so pleased to see her as were all the children. It’s great to see her in Swindon and you can see how much the canals mean to her.”

The Duchess spent half an hour mingling with the public, volunteers from the trust, supporters and town dignitaries including MP for South Swindon Robert Buckland and Swindon Borough Council leader David Renard.

She then unveiled the plaque to officially open the landing stage which was greeted with cheers and applause from the audience.

Chris Coyle from the canal trust said he enjoyed updating the Duchess, who is also a patron of Prospect Hospice, on the progress being made on the canal.

“I’ve met her a few times over the eight years she’s been a patron,” he said.

“We had a bit of banter about the weather on the way down here. It was really interesting to talk to her because she’s particular about the charities that she supports.

"It means a great deal to her to be here today and we’d told her about the progress we had been making.

"She has a lot of links to the town and was very interested in the work we have been doing and the progress being made around Wichelstowe.”

Wilts & Berks Canal Trust plans to connect the landing stage and restored canal in the near future to a new stretch of canal at East Wichel, which will loop around the three new Wichelstowe villages that form part of the development plan by Swindon Borough Council.