"SHE was everybody's mother." So said Marks & Spencer worker Ann Robertshaw as she, along with about 100 colleagues, watched the Queen Mother's funeral in the Pavement store's rooftop staff lounge today.

"She was our matriarch in the nicest sense. Everybody is very subdued. When I came up here at 11am, I thought the two-minute silence had already started. You could hear a pin drop."

Ann saw the Queen Mother in person at Royal Ascot once.

"She came across to the paddock, where I was. She was such a warm character, you felt you could go up to her and say 'Hello luv, how are yer?'

Former naval rating Paul Town was among Ann's colleagues watching the funeral.

"You spend years wondering why Great Britain is great and today, you remember her and think that she was why. I'm glad we've had the chance to be here to see this moment."

Paul met the Queen Mother while serving on the cruiser HMS Lancaster in 1982. He said: "She made time for everybody, she was just wonderful. There was a lot of people there that day to make time for."

Emma Vince said: "I thought I wouldn't be bothered but then I came up here and it's different. You think of your own family.

"I'm feeling a bit sad, but I feel like I'm watching history.

"She was our Duchess, too, so I think it's really important that we remember her in York."

Updated: 13:36 Tuesday, April 09, 2002