A musical couple and a pillar of the Kirklees community were invited to Buckingham Palace at the weekend.
Michael and Nicola Rath joined the Queen and her guests to be serenaded by trombones manufactured at their own Honley premises.
Music for the afternoon tea party was played by the band of the Irish Guards, whose trombone section uses Rath Trombones.
Michael has a long association with the band and was delighted that they were on parade the day he had tea at the palace.
“To hear my instruments being played in front of royalty and thousands of other people by such a prestigious band was a real accolade for the company,” said Michael, whose firm makes custom trombones for musicians all over the world.
“We were surprised, but thrilled to get an invitation to a palace garden party where the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge joined 7,500 guests.”
While they were there, Michael and Nicola were photographed with the trombone section of the band and the next morning saw them march during a rehearsal for Trooping the Colour on Horse Guards Parade.
“I’ve only ever seen Trooping the Colour on TV and was over the moon to be invited to see it up close,” said Michael. “I was very proud to see the trombones involved in such a spectacle.”
The garden party was not the first royal occasion for Michael who received a visit last year from Princess Anne, the Princess Royal to his factory in the Yorkshire village which employs 15 craftspeople.
Rath trombones are played by artists from all over the world covering all kinds of music from orchestra to opera house, jazz to funk.
Huddersfield man Abdul Wahid and his wife Sulthana were also among the guests of the Queen at a Buckingham Palace garden party.
Abdul, who a senior finance consultant who lives at Crosland Moor, was surprised but delighted when the invitation to the palace arrived in the post.
And after attending the VIP event he said: “It was an honour to have been invited – a great privilege to have been selected, especially in this year of Her Majesty’s 90th birthday.
“We got to see the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. We had a wonderful afternoon – meeting lots of nice people from all walks of life, sharing great stories and making new friends. It was an unforgettable experience – a once in a life-time opportunity. The sun was out, too!”
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Abdul, who was born in Syhet, Bangladesh, came to the UK in 1984 and attended Newsome High School and Greenhead College before gaining qualifications in business and finance at Huddersfield Technical College and graduating in accountancy and finance at the University of East Anglia.
The father of five, who works for a Microsoft reseller based in Berkshire, is vice-chair of governors at Mount Pleasant Primary School at Lockwood.
He also chairs the Kirklees Imams and Mosque Advisory Board, an independent group which works to a promote positive image of Islam.
