The weekend
in North Wales is over but there are still a few things that amaze me. We ordered a hog for roasting that should
have been enough for 100 people. 38
Water Conservators and some friends saw the whole thing off. There was no cold pork left for me to enjoy
on Sunday. So be warned, Conservators
can eat a lot.
An advanced
party comprised of the Clerk, the Beadle and 2 Court Assistants along with
their partners arrived on Thursday afternoon.
We had an excellent supper that evening which was prepared and served by
my bailiff; I think that the Court should consider this ability as being a
fundamental one for future bailiffs.
On Friday we
were under the direction of the beadle and processed from the Town Hall to St
Peter’s church by way of the old market square.
Everything went very well except that the church organist did not play
the Welsh National Anthem as was programmed, before God Save the Queen. All was clearly shown on the service. Owain Glyndwr burnt Ruthin down in Sept.
1400 for a lot less, history was close to being repeated on Friday.
It rained on
Friday afternoon but our procession was met by the Bishop of St Asaph, the
Chairman of the County Council and the Mayor of Ruthin just before the heavens opened. The service, which was led by Bishop Gregory,
was thought provoking, memorable and enjoyable.
About 140 of us retired to Rossignol for tea where we were joined by the
secretary of State for Wales. In the
meantime I had recorded an interview with BBC Wales for television and then a
live radio interview for BBC Radio Wales.
The BBC television piece went world-wide, an excited friend telephone
from Abu Dhabi. I understand that a
great many of the ladies wore hats and there were a great many, as tribute to Marj
who most certainly would have had one on, so that was nice.
Friday
evening saw us travel to Llanelidan which is a very small village at the head
of the Vale of Clwyd. There was a settlement
here long before the Celts arrived and the site of the present church was the
centre of a Celtic settlement which predated the Roman invasion, and was then
an early monastic centre of the Celtic Church. Most of the churches in the area are named
after Celtic saints who were very active, many were Irish. My colleague at RML, Andrew Sumner, is a
member of the parochial church council and gave us a fascinating review of the
history of the area and the church.
Andrew is a great grand-nephew of Archbishop Sumner of Canterbury so we
were in good hands. The present church
has a great many historic features but what impressed both the Water Conservators
and our guest lady harpist was the acoustics; she said she had never
experienced better in a long career of public performance, one of the reasons
that I wanted us to visit the church. We
then adjourned to the tiny pub which stands next door, the Leyland Arms, where
we enjoyed a lamb hotpot and fine beers, another reason for the visit to
Llanelidan. Strangely enough the weather
seemed to have improved a little when we left Llanelidan at about 10.30.
On Saturday
morning we travelled over the Horseshoe pass through magnificent scenery and
down into the Dee valley to arrive at Pontcysyllte, the world heritage site
which is comprised of Telford’s aqueduct over the Dee valley. We were met by a reconstituted Thomas
Telford, a long standing associate of mine who is a member of the Institution
of Civil Engineers Historic Structures Group or something similar and an
acknowledged expert on the construction of the aqueduct. Looking up from ground level at the piers
which support the cast iron trough was an impressive sight in itself. The walk across the bridge is not for the
faint-hearted.
After an
afternoon of relaxation in the area the party re-assembled at Rossignol for a
hog-roast supper which went down well, see above. I think that everyone enjoyed the visit, the
landscape the special events the food and our environment.
I will be
back at Pontcysyllte for a visit by the President of the Institution of Civil
Engineers on Tuesday. I will be wearing
my badge of office.
