Yorkshire flag-maker says Coronation like a 'World Cup final'

A flag manufacturer says the run up to Saturday's Coronation is "like having an England World Cup final each week".

Flying Colours Flagmakers, which made a Royal Standard flag to cover the Queen's coffin, is among the Yorkshire businesses involved with the event.

"It has brought in some lovely extra business," says owner Andy Ormrod.

Elsewhere, a Ryedale firm's instruments will be heard inside Westminster Abbey and a Bradford tailor hopes his jacket will be fit for a King.

"It has been a very healthy few months, there's no doubt about it," said Mr Ormrod, standing behind piles of red, white and blue union jacks in his Knaresborough workshop.

The company was granted a Royal Warrant by Queen Elizabeth II in 2007 and has manufactured flags for the Royal Household since 2000.

"We've been busy since the back end of last year, some of the councils knew what was going to go on and have been really prepared," he said.

"January and February were busy with the organised lot and now we've got all the stragglers and the last-minute stuff."

He says several members of staff volunteered to work over the May bank holiday to help keep on top of demand.

"The order book looks excellent and we've fulfilled all the orders," Mr Ormrod says.

"It's like having an England World Cup final every week."

A trumpet maker in Sheriff Hutton, Ryedale, also holds regal connections, with many of the fanfares heard at recent royal events played on its instruments.

Richard Smith, who provided trumpets for the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex five years ago, has made a new set to be played during the Coronation ceremony.

"The military bands had been using some very old 1950s instruments, they came to see me in 2000 and asked if I could improve them," he says.

"It has then gone on to the whole of the British Army, the Navy and the RAF for ceremonial work."

The trumpet maker, of Smith-Watkins instruments, says he'll be proudly watching on as his instruments are used during the event, which will be broadcast to a TV audience of millions.

"It's going to feel pretty good - there was some fantastic playing at the funeral of Her Majesty the Queen, the best I've ever heard," he says.

"I'll be listening carefully."

Imran Khan met King Charles III in November, with the businessman instantly getting the measure of the royal after the King complimented his jacket.

"I replied, 'thank you, I'd really like to make you one', and he said 'you don't know my size'," Mr Khan, of IK Collection, recalls.

"I said, 'yes I do, you're 42 to 43, can I make you one?'"

After Mr Khan met the King at Bradford City Hall during a city visit in November, a team of four then got to work on a hand-stitched velvet green jacket with elaborate embroidery and beading.

The whole process took three months, with a party taking place in Bradford on Saturday to showcase the jacket.

When asked if the King will eventually get to wear the item, he responds: "I think he will, I'm not sure when but as long as it gets to him - they were very impressed.

"It'd make me, Yorkshire, Bradford, so proud - the tailors who have been doing this since the 1960s but also the young apprentices who have been involved."

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