When the present Queen came to the throne she decided to take the Maundy Service on the road. Each year the ceremony takes place at a different cathedral around the country.
In
2005, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were in in
West Yorkshire to attend the Royal Maundy Service at
Wakefield
Cathedral.
The recipients of the gift of specially-minted money
were 79 women and 79 men - one for each of the years
she had lived at the time of her birthday on April 21st,
2005.
The 158 Wakefield pensioners also received some extra
gifts from the Queen. They were each given given a red
purse containing a £5 coin commemorating the 200th
anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar and a 50p coin
marking the 250th anniversary of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
Of The English Language.
