Forty children from Lime Tree, Maple and St Andrew’s and St Mark’s schools wrote messages on ribbons and tied them to the fencing at Surbiton railway station this morning (Friday) in memory of the Queen.

The tributes from the four to 11-year-olds will be added to over the weekend by other children from the Surbiton infant and primary schools to create a wall of 1,000 colourful ribbons to greet travellers and pedestrians at the rear entrance of the station in Glenbuck Road.

Surbiton MP and Lib Dem leader Ed Davey, pictured at the event with the deputy lieutenant of Greater London Andrew Ransom, acting as the King’s representative, as well as the mayor of Kingston Cllr Yogan Yoganathan, who all wrote their own ribbon messages, said the project was a lovely tribute to our late monarch.

“I just want to thank everyone who organised it. It was a really lovely event. The children were amazing, and just reading some of their messages to the Queen just brings tears to your eyes,” he said.

The Ribbon Project, part of the Surbiton Art Trail, organised by Surbiton artist Stephen Young and St Mark’s ward councillor Diane White (pictured above), and supported by Network Rail, South Western Railway and railway contractors Octavius, had originally set out to be welcoming messages to the area by local children to brighten up the fencing around the rail works going on at the station, but evolved into a project in memory of the Queen whose funeral takes place at Westminster Abbey on Monday.