At the AGM of the Gild of Freemen of Pembroke on October 28 in the Council Chamber of Pembroke Town Hall, Mr. Roy Folland retired as Master of the Gild, a position he has held for 30 years.

After his welcoming remarks he paid tribute to Gild member Mr. Dai Williams, who had died since the previous AGM, and prayers were said by the Gild Chaplain, Revd. Canon Roger Jones.

Mr. Folland was pleased that one of his final official duties as Master was to welcome and install two new Burgesses to the Gild, Mrs. Lyn Edwards and Mr. Ian Jones, in recognition of their outstanding service to the local community.

Mrs. Edwards, a retired teacher specialising in challenging behaviour and safeguarding, is group Co-ordinator with South Pembrokeshire Veterans’ Group, a volunteer at the VC Gallery in Pembroke Dock, pastor co-ordinator and member of the Pastor Management Committee with Pembroke Street Pastors, a Co-ordinator with Dyfed–Powys Response Pastors; she undertakes various Safeguarding roles in the local community and is Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Tanyard Youth Project.

Mr. Jones, a retired civil servant, is currently church treasurer at St Mary’s Pembroke and has previously been a Licensed Reader in the Church in Wales, Treasurer and Secretary to the Monkton Benefice, Benefice Council representative on the Pembroke Street Pastors Group and overseen church improvements and building works at St Mary’s. He has previously held the position of Town Clerk at Pembroke Dock, been Company Secretary of the Pater Hall Community Trust where he also served as the Treasurer, has been involved with NSPCC and Pembrokeshire Action for the Homeless (PATH) and is currently a committee member and Treasurer of Pembrokeshire Cancer Support.

For only the third time in its recent history the Gild elected a new Master following the retirement of Mr. Roy Folland from that role. Along with his brother Claude, he was enrolled as a Freeman of Pembroke in 1974 and following the reforming of the present Gild of Freemen of Pembroke in the mid-1980s he was elected Deputy Master in 1989 and Master in 1991.

Representing the Gild at the Freemen of England & Wales (FEW) and serving as Warden for Wales from 2007 to 2018, he was instrumental in the Gild hosting the AGM of the FEW at Pembroke in 2011 and 2017. The outstanding success of both occasions was the result of his organisation of the events and his attention to detail. In 2018 Mr. Folland was installed as a Burgess of Haverfordwest, and this year was honoured to receive Maundy Money from Her Majesty the Queen.

The Deputy Master, Clr. Dennis Evans, was elected Master and enrobed by Mr. Folland who had very generously donated his personal property of the Master’s Robe and the Master’s Jewell (badge of office) to the Gild. Thanking Mr. Folland for his kind donations and his long service, the newly elected Master looked forward to the Gild’s future.

The meeting elected the following other officers for the coming year:

Treasurer: Clr. Keith Nicholas; Press Officer: Revd Canon Roger Jones; Chaplain: Revd Canon Roger Jones, with the positions of Deputy Master and Clerk remaining vacant.

The Annual Accounts were presented and accepted, and the Master reported on the AGM of the FEW which had been held via video-conferencing.

The next event of the Gild of Freemen of Pembroke will be the annual service on Sunday, November 28 at St. Mary’s church Pembroke when the Guest Preacher will be The Revd. Canon Geoffrey Gwyther. The service will be followed by luncheon at The Helm, Pembroke Dock.