WITH the sun shining brightly and crowds of thousands cheering from Southampton docks, the Queen boarded Britannia at the start of her annual holiday to the Western Isles of Scotland.

The Queen, together with Princess Margaret and her children Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Armstrong Jones, arrived by train well ahead of schedule.

They were greeted by the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire Lord Malmesbury and the deputy port director Mr Dennis Noddings.

The Queen also greeted leading port and city officials, including the mayor and mayoress Councillor and Mrs Pat Allan, who presented a bouquet of red roses.

The Queen and Princess Margaret then spoke to dock workers and some of the delighted families of the royal yacht's crew, and came away with an armful of posies from young children.

On August 8, 1980, The Daily Echo reported: "Not to be outdone, seven-year-old Neil Tatlow, from Fareham, whose dad is Chief Bosun's Mate on the royal yacht, presented her with a potted plant!

"Everyone gives her ordinary flowers and anyway there weren't any cut flowers left, and she did say thank you,' said a grinning Neil later.

As the Queen boarded Britannia the escorting warship HMS Leander fired a royal salute of 21 guns.

The previous month the Queen was at Southampton's neighbouring port city to toast her mighty vessel Invincible, the first of a new breed of Royal Navy super ships, equipped with the vertical take-off Harrier jet.

Accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen commissioned the 20,000-ton through-deck carrier - which she had launched three years earlier - at Portsmouth Naval Base.

During a champagne reception on board, the Queen met First World War veteran Bill Gasson, 85, of Portsmouth, who described how his Royal Marines parade ground drill saved his life 64 years before.

The Daily Echo reported: "For several minutes the Queen listened to Bill describing the moments before the First World War battleship Invincible was blown up by a German broadside in the clash of the dreadnoughts at Jutland in 1916."

The Queen was presented with a posy by nine-year-old Joanne Sullivan, daughter of CPO and Mrs John Sullivan of Scafell Avenue, Fareham, before admiring a magnificent iced commissioning cake made by 38-year-old petty officer cook Ken Bradley, of Worthing Avenue, Gosport.