TRIBUTE was paid to former Gild Master Roy Folland at the Annual General Meeting of the Gild of Freemen of Pembroke.

The meeting took place on October 23 in the Council Chamber of Pembroke Town Hall.

After welcoming remarks by the Master of the Gild, Cllr Dennis Evans, the opening prayer was offered by the Gild Chaplain, Rev’d Canon Roger Jones.

The Master said that it was sad to report of the death of Mr Roy Folland who died on September 11, aged 93. Roy was a loyal, faithful and respected member of the Pembroke Gild and was enrolled as a Freeman of Pembroke in 1974 and was elected Deputy Master in 1989. In 1991 he was elected as Master and served in this position until 2021.

In additional Roy was well known to all at the Freemen of England and Wales where he was a faithful attendee at meetings for very many years and served as Warden for Wales from 2007 to 2018. He was instrumental in the Pembroke Gild hosting the AGM of the FEW at Pembroke in 2011 and again in 2017. The outstanding success of both occasions was the result of his organisation of the events and his attention to detail.

A funeral service for Roy took place at St Mary Church at Haverfordwest and Parc Gwyn Crematorium on October 7. He will be sadly missed by many.

The meeting elected the following officers for the coming year: Master: Cllr Aden Brinn JP; Treasurer: Cllr Keith Nicholas; Press Officer: Rev’d Canon Roger Jones; Chaplain: Rev’d Canon Roger Jones.

The role of Deputy Master and the Clerk remain vacant at the present. The Annual Accounts were presented and accepted.

The next event of the Gild of Freemen of Pembroke will be a service of Morning Prayer on Sunday, November 16 at St Mary’s Church Pembroke when the guest preacher will be Rev’d Adrian Davies. The service will be followed by luncheon at The Old Kings Arms Hotel, Pembroke.