A WOMAN has recalled the “moving” occasion she saw Winston Churchill’s coffin being transported.

Adrienne Smillie, of Tythe Road, Broadway, witnessed the historical moment 50 years ago completely by chance having left a hotel and stumbled across the procession.

She said: “It was remarkable and a dramatic experience.

“I definitely felt quite honoured to have witnessed it – it was a very moving moment.

“Nobody knew the route and it was pure coincidence and completely by chance that we were in the right place at the right time.”

Mrs Smillie explained that she had been having a pot of coffee, which cost two shillings, with a couple of other girls at the Hilton Hotel in London.

They had left and gone to ask a police officer for advice on buses, who quickly asked them to step to one side. A gate then opened and Churchill’s coffin complete with union jack passed by.

“I had forgotten about it but the recent coverage on the television jogged by my memory”, said Mrs Smillie.

“Thinking about it has made me realise how times have changed.”