News
TRH begin their annual Summer tour of Wales
21st June 2009
The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall began their annual Summer tour of Wales today with a series of Mid-Wales visits.
The Summer tour began with a morning of music as The Prince and The Duchess visited the newly-opened Priory Primary School next to Brecon Cathedral.
The Prince and The Duchess were greeted by the Brecon Town Concert Band, performing outside the cathedral, as a crowd of up to 200 well-wishers cheered their arrival.
As they entered the school a harpist played a traditional Welsh carol before they were shown to the main hall.
They were then serenaded by up to 50 young children singing a song called We Are The Young.
Up to 150 children gathered to greet Their Royal Highnesses, many holding up home-made face masks created to reflect the diversity of people in the world.
"The school only opened on 1st June and we've been preparing for this visit since the first day," said Kevin Phillips, Deputy Head Teacher.
"The children all know who the royal couple are and there has been a lot of excitement and anticipation over the visit.
"Music is a large part of the school and we try to encourage the children to behave as musically as possible."
After the brief tour The Prince and The Duchess moved on to Brecon Cathedral where the cathedral choir sang Ave Maria.
The Prince is Patron of the Brecon Cathedral Choir Endowment Appeal which was set up in 2002 with the target of raising £1million.
The Anglican cathedral has no choir school and no endowments to support its music.
It is hoped the visit today will help give a boost to the £500,000 already raised to fund an array of needs, including the salaries of a musical director and assistant organist.
"Having The Prince of Wales as Patron is very important to us and I'm sure his visit here today will attract further support," said Mark Duthie, choir director.
The Prince today also met six young prospective members of the choir who were picked from a large number hoping to join.
And an eight-year-old current member, who attends Cradoc Primary School, spoke of his excitement at the royal visit.
"I didn't realise how special it was to meet The Prince until he came here," he said today.
"He was very nice and asked me if I work hard and I told him I practise three times a week after school and Friday evening and Sunday.
"It can be hard but it was great to get the day off school today."
Next, The Prince and The Duchess visited Ty-Mawr, a firm which produces environmentally-friendly building materials, and acted as a supplier for their new home in Wales.
Mr Lance Deem, who has long dreadlocks, was introduced to The Prince as master mixer of an array of lime-based products sold by and immediately joked: "This is what lime does to your hair."
He added: "The Prince laughed and said he quite liked them. I said I didn't look this way nine years ago when I first got started."
Mr Deem was responsible for mixing up to 20 tons of lime used by The Prince and The Duchess of Cornwall in the renovation of their 190-acre farm and farmhouse, called Llwynywermod, near Llandovery, Mid-Wales.
The tour of Ty-Mawr, outside Brecon, was designed to give the couple an insight into the range of locally sourced environmentally-friendly products available in the region.
They toured its facilities and watched traditional lime-stone mortar being used on stonework and were also shown a traditional thatcher working with Pembrokeshire-grown wheat bales.
Ty-Mawr was set up by husband and wife entrepreneurs Nigel and Joyce Gervis who started out by manufacturing materials to renovate their own Welsh farmhouse.
"I think that the visit today gives our products a degree of legitimacy," said partner Joyce Gervis.
"Environmentally-friendly building products today are about at the same point as organic food products were 10 years ago, so there is a way to go.
"But the fact that we are being visited today by both of them will do us no harm at all."
Later The Prince and The Duchess travelled to Llandovery, near their home Llwynywermod, to meet volunteers helped by a charity set up by The Prince to help the over 50s.
PRIME-Cymru encourages the over 50s into everything from voluntary work to setting up businesses and returning to the workplace.
"I happen to believe that experience and skills are an invaluable resource," The Prince told a crowd of up to 200 gathered in the market square of the town for a PRIME-Cymru exhibition.
He said that when it was first launched "many people had said they felt that after the age of 50 they were on the scrapheap and faced insurmountable problems in finding paid employment".
He added: "I think it is madness not to use them.
"PRIME-Cymru is the only organisation in Wales which exists purely to help the over 50s."
The Prince also toured the organisation's public exhibition and spoke to volunteers, including part-time belly dancer Susan Spalding.
She explained that she held belly dancing workshops throughout the region, attended charity events and had often worked closely with PRIME-Cymru.
"Basically, it is a way of keeping the over 50s active and have a bit of fun at the same time.
"The Prince asked me to show him a few moves and I asked him to join in, but he said he'd better leave that to the ladies."
The first full day of Their Royal Highnesses’ Summer tour concluded with an evening reception for the neighbours at their farmhouse home.
Locals and craftspeople who worked on the property were invited back for drinks when it was finished last year and this time, residents from the town of Llandovery and the nearby hamlet of Myddfai were invited to visit Llwynywermod.
Llwynywermod was bought by The Prince in March 2007 so that he would have a base in Wales during his many visits. It was renovated using local craftsmen and traditional materials.
The Prince and The Duchess now use the farmhouse property as a base for their extended annual tour of Wales and during other visits through the course of the year.
The list of guests attending the evening reception was nominated by Myddfai Community Council.
The second full day of visits is due to begin with a tour of Llandovery Cottage Hospital, where they will meet staff and patients.
The Prince and The Duchess will also visit nearby Llanfair Surgery, which is housed in the 170-year-old former building of the Llandovery Union Poor House.