TEIGNMOUTH remained quiet in all but a few places on Friday, where the only visible signs of activity were in places where the community came together to remember the Queen and watch her State Funeral.

One of these places was Teignmouth Rugby Club.

Nicola Skelley, a Teignmouth local and Rugby Club volunteer, was deeply touched by the news of the Queen’s passing.

She said: ‘I think that it’s hit people a lot more than they thought.

‘It certainly did for me. But I think that it’s affected people very differently all over the community. So some people may want to stay at home with their families, while others may want to be with people.

‘We just wanted to give people a place that they could go and be with others.’

Nicola was interested in going up to London to watch the historic event in person but decided against it on the grounds of work and family.

‘I wanted to go up and be a part of the moment, but I had to work and thought it would nice to be down here with the family anyway.’

The funeral screening was a quiet and subdued

affair, but everyone in attendance was happy that Teignmouth RFC was willing to provide a space for the community to come together.

Major Mark Brookfield served in the British Army for 34 years, only finishing his formal duties this summer.

Mark now plays a key role in the organisation and promotion of the club. After the news broke on Friday, he was upset by the news but was keen to ensure that community bonds remained strong.

‘I swore my allegiance to her when I was serving, and she was my Commander-in-Chief, so this is obviously a very poignant moment for me and everyone in the armed forces.

‘I was here at the Rugby Club when we found out. We were hosting a Teignmouth Pride event and were about to take the flag out onto the pitch for a photo when we found out the news.

‘We decided to leave the celebrations there and not take the photo – which was a shame but also the right thing to do.’

After serving in the military for so long, Mark is no stranger to military parades and logistically complex events such as that of Monday.

‘If he was still serving, there would have been a strong chance that he would have been at the centre of it all.’ Mark said: ‘I’d have loved to have been there today. I did something similar when Charles and Dianna visited our regiment in Germany during the Gulf War.

‘I know drills like this very well, so I can imagine what it’s been like to prepare and organise this. We practised for our day for many weeks, all during the dead of night, so I can’t imagine what it took to organise this.

‘In many ways, it was very similar to this with all the ceremony and pageantry – but the summer that year was similar to this year and all the grass was dying and going brown, so they got us to paint the grass green for their arrival and so that the photos would look nice! I never met any of the other Royals, but Dianna walked around our table and chatted to us all – she was lovely, very down to earth.’

There were also some other events at Teignmouth pubs and churches, as well as other establishments across Teignbridge.