THE Duchess of Rothesay showed her support for meals on wheels when she delivered dinner to a Deeside pensioner yesterday.
Camilla visited Ballater to celebrate the beginning of Community Meals on Wheels Week. Wearing a Lord of the Isles tartan skirt and matching jacket, she hand-delivered a frozen meal to Alexander Irvine, 93, and chatted with him as it was cooked.
The duchess recognised Mr Irvine, of Old Station Place, who spent more than 20 years as an elder at Crathie Kirk, near Balmoral.
“I have seen you round Balmoral have I not?” she asked him as they met.
“It’s a wonderful church.”
The pair talked about the church and each had a drink of Barrogill whisky from the Prince of Wales’s Mey Selections range, which the duchess had brought as a gift. Mr Irvine later said: “I can remember when her husband was a boy and I was here when they got married.”
Camilla was shown two delivery vans and asked staff how the meals are made, and their nutritional value.
She also talked with representatives from the National Association of Care Catering, which raises awareness of nutrition issues facing the elderly.
Chairwoman Sue Ullmann said there had been a decline in the number of people taking up meals on wheels in the last five years.
“We have been researching why there has been this decline in meals on wheels, and one of the things to come out is that people’s perception of it is quite outdated,” she said. “The technology has changed a lot, and a lot of work has gone into the variety and nutritional content on offer.
“This visit is the best thing that could have happened to us. The duchess is very interested in the nutrition of the elderly and it certainly showed.”
Alan Littlejohn, of Ellon-based Wiltshire Farm Foods, delivers frozen meals to more than 1,200 elderly people across Aberdeen city and shire every fortnight.
“I think it’s a vital service really,” he said. “Without it, many people would struggle.”
Despite a national decline in popularity, the number of people in the city taking the meals has jumped from 120 to 800 in the last six years.
It is not the first time the initiative has received royal support.
In 1997, the late Queen Mother ate roast beef and apple pie after it was delivered to her London home, Clarence House.