Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal paid a visit to two Luton community projects on Friday, celebrating the town’s close ties with Luton Airport and its work in supporting education and young people.
Princess Anne began her visit at Tennyson Road Primary School, where she was welcomed by the Lord-Lieutenant of Bedfordshire alongside pupils and staff. She officially opened the school’s new outdoor learning space, Buzzbee Garden, created thanks to a grant from the airport’s Greener Future Fund, and joined children from the gardening club for activities including planting bulbs, painting logs and making bird feeders.
Headteacher Carla Gotch described the occasion as a “momentous day” for the school, adding: “We were all so proud to host Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal and to have this opportunity to showcase the beautiful outdoor space that our children can now enjoy thanks to the support of London Luton Airport.
“Today’s visit provided a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our relationship with the airport and the significant educational and social benefits that this delivers for our children. It is a day that none of us will ever forget.”
The Princess then travelled into the town centre to visit Tokko Youth Hub, one of the airport’s charity partners. The Luton-based organisation supports children and young people through employability, wellbeing and life-skills programmes, and showcased its facilities and work during the royal visit.
Tokko’s Chief Executive, Aimee Djengiz, said: “For everyone associated with Tokko, it truly was an honour to host Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal today. A royal visit rounds off an amazing year for Tokko, providing a once in a lifetime opportunity to highlight the ways in which the airport’s fundraising activities are helping us to directly support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds by developing their employability skills and helping to overcome the barriers they typically face. It was an incredible platform to showcase the important work that our charity is doing for young people in Luton.”
Alberto Martin, Chief Executive Officer of Luton Airport, said the day was a proud moment for all involved.
“Everyone associated with London Luton Airport is honoured to have hosted today’s visit from Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal,” he said. “It was wonderful to highlight the breadth of our work in the local community and, more specifically, the way we are delivering enduring social benefit for two wonderful organisations that are so close to LLA’s heart.”
The Lord-Lieutenant of Bedfordshire described the visit as “a privilege”, saying it demonstrated the positive impact of partnership working between the airport and the town’s schools and charities.
Paul Kehoe, chair of Luton Rising, the Luton Council-owned company that oversees the airport, added: “It was an honour to be able to highlight the positive social impact of London Luton Airport which is a result of the close partnership between owner and operator. At Luton Rising we are proud to drive this through our unique investment exceeding £500m in community and frontline services over more than 25 years to support Luton Council’s 2040 vision of a healthy, fair and sustainable town where everyone can thrive.”
Luton Airport’s community work includes grant schemes such as the Greener Future Fund and Community Trust Fund, which together have supported more than 19,000 local beneficiaries this year. The airport also runs education programmes like Classroom to Careers, which engaged over 300 students from 11 local schools in 2024.
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