THE town welcomed some very special guests at the weekend to help celebrate Canute’s Millennial festival.

On Tuesday, October 18, Danish Ambassador, Claus Grube and his wife Susanne Fournais Grube visited Knutsford Heritage Centre to see the ‘Viking Warrior and English King’ exhibition.

Invited by Knutsford Town Mayor, Cllr Jan Nicholson, the Ambassador and his wife were met at Wilmslow railway station by the mayor and Christian Wewer, Danish Consul to Manchester.

They were then driven back to Knutsford in a Rolls Royce on loan from the branch in Manchester Road.

“Our visit to Knutsford was extraordinary,” said Mr Grube.

“There is no doubt that after this wonderful experience in the lovely town of Knutsford, we have renewed the human and cultural bonds, which after 1,000 years of common history links us Danes together with the English people.

“We will for sure return to this beautiful part of Cheshire very soon to enjoy the towns and the famous landscape not least in Tatton Park.”

As well as a celebration, the event was the perfect opportunity to promote the ‘Canute Challenge Legacy Appeal’ in conjunction with Cheshire Scouts which will see money raised for a fleet of Viking boats used for training courses and racing.

The Ambassador’s visit was topped off with a tour of the town by Caroline Sherwin and Wendy Moleas, who run the Heritage Centre’s guided walks, before 80 guests settled in at Gusto for a special lunch.

The lunch was part of the Heritage Centre’s Canute Millennial Festival celebrations, which included the Echoes of Canute concert on Monday evening, a talk on Tuesday evening by Dr Mark Atherton on Canute in the context of English history and the festival finale, a recital by soprano Sasha Johnson Manning and Roger Child.