THE Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited the Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH) today where they met with various NHS staff to thank them for their tireless efforts during the pandemic.

During the visit, the couple were treated to a performance from steel drum band Reading All Steel Percussion Orchestra (Raspo) which is run by Culture Mix.

The group has been funded through the government's Cultural Recovery Fund.

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Mary Genis is the director of both Culture Mix and Raspo and was performing for the Royal couple today.

She believes the couple were "itching to have a go" at the steel drums themselves.

She said: "It was really exciting talking to Kate, they were both really friendly and you could see they were absolutely itching to have a go but of course because of Covid they couldn’t.

"It was lovely that they spent so much time and took that few minutes out to really appreciate the music and watch us play and we really appreciated that.

"It was great fun."

The visit to the hospital formed part of the couple's Royal train tour and was an opportunity for them to thank NHS staff for their work over the past year.

The Duke and Duchess spoke with various staff members who have continued to help keep our population safe.

Among those staff members was midwife Katie England.

She explained it was "lovely" meeting the couple.

Katie said: "We didn’t know until just now basically that we were going to speak to them.

"So we were a bit nervous but it’s exciting.

She added: "They were friendly and they wanted to know about us as well and how we have coped with everything."

Kara is also a midwife at the hospital and described the couple as "lovely" too.

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"They asked how it had been through the pandemic and Covid and what it had been like for the women in maternity", she said.

"It was really nice, they are very normal but it was lovely to speak to them.”

To mark the 200th year of nursing and midwifery, a special NHS badge was designed by RBH staff member Rafael Fernandes.

He won a competition held by the Trust asking people to create a design to commemorate the occasion.

He said: "I think no one will forget this year, both reasons negative and positive because at the same time we saw everybody coming into together trying to tackle the situation and step up and it was a great honour.”