PRIVATE photographs from the Queen's tours abroad and gifts from places such as Fiji, Tonga and Ghana are included in a Jubilee Exhibition at Upton-upon-Severn Memorial Hall.

As a dresser to the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, Upton woman Florence Bramford, who died in 1985 at the age of 94, was a member of the royal household for 35 years.

She was in Princess Elizabeth's entourage on a visit to South Africa in 1947, the first royal tour after the Second World War and subsequently joined the Queen's Coronation tours.

Miss Bramford received the Royal Victoria Medal from the Queen in recognition of her service and had a collection of 15 commemorative medals from countries she visited on royal tours.

In each place she also received gifts, such as a sash from Ghana, a basket from Fiji, the painted centrepiece of a bedspread from Tonga and a woollen coat, elaborately decorated with silk braid, from the little kingdom of Swat.

She finally retired at the age of 83 after falling ill at Sandringham and being sent home to Upton in a taxi.

Her experiences are chronicled in a book, From Cottage to Palace, by her niece, Margaret Bramford, who lent many of her artefacts for the Upton exhibition, organised by Upton Civic Society.

The exhibition, Then and Now: the Parish in the Nation, includes a look at the social and economic changes that have taken place nationally during the Queen's reign.

Twenty-six other stands are devoted to local history, activities and events.

Memories will be revived of Upton's lost buildings, demolished since 1952 and of lost institutions such as the railway station, telephone exchange, Upton C of E All Age School, the Hill Secondary School and Hanley Castle Grammar School.

The exhibition was staged yesterday and runs from 10.30am to noon today.