A RIGHT royal occasion dominated the news for much of June when it was announced The Queen would be officially opening Chester’s hugely successful Storyhouse, along with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

The event was a major coup for the city as this was on Meghan’s first day of royal engagement since marrying Prince Harry the previous month.

The royal visitors toured Storyhouse, seeing what the cultural hub has to offer, before enjoying lunch at Chester Town Hall, while cheering crowds lined the streets.

There was also a celebratory feel to the city centre when the annual Midsummer Watch Parade entertained the crowds through a wild mixture of colourful costumes.

Also being staged in the city were the Chester Mystery Plays, an event that runs every five years and featured a 200-strong company.

In sport, the Deva Triathlon saw hundreds of athletes take part, but there was concern about the River Dee having raw sewage pumped into it only the day before. Welsh Water insisted the sewer discharge was necessary to prevent properties being flooded elsewhere.

Elsewhere, the University of Chester announced its intention to appeal against a controversial council planning decision that could force it to stop using the Thornton Science Park campus.

The planning committee ruled the nearby Stanlow Oil Refinery put students and staff at too much risk.

The landlady of the Rake & Pikel in Huntington, Donna Tracey, admitted deliberately setting fire to the pub and trying to claim £200,000 in insurance.

And Chester’s ‘balloon man’ Benjamin Lumsden admitted helping a friend steal a high-value bicycle in the city centre. The 52-year-old entertainer was handed a 12-month community order and told to pay £800 compensation.