Remarks made by HRH The Prince of Wales at The Morriston Tabernacle Chapel, Swansea

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to be able to join you on this occasion, when I discover to my astonishment that I actually managed to coincide with exactly the same day of the month as 50 years ago when I came. I don’t know about some of you but I find it very hard to know where those 50 years have gone, and whether any of you were here at the time. One or two of you may have been. So for me, perhaps you can imagine, the joy of the moment of walking into this remarkable and famous chapel and hearing this great choir sing that very special hymn was immensely moving and brought several tears to my eyes. One of the things that I will never forget from 50 years ago was the sheer volume of sound from the size of the choir when I came then. If I may say so, the wonderful thing is the great tradition of choral singing is still alive and well and flourishing here in the principality. I am full of admiration for the amount of effort and dedication that has gone into rescuing this building and restoring and making sure that such a remarkable place is able to be used in the future by a whole range of different organisations and bodies. I do understand the challenges that are involved. I spend a large part of my life trying to rescue all these historic places and find new uses for them. I know it’s difficult but the fact that you have done it is a remarkable achievement. I did just want to use this occasion to say "Llongyfarchiadau" [Congratulations] and I look forward to seeing many more years of this great building being used, not only to the Glory of God but also to the glory of Music and Arts and so many other socially valuable activities.