Princess gets hands on in Welsh woollen mill visit

A working Pembrokeshire woollen mill had a royal visitor this afternoon, Tuesday, February 3, who tried her hand at many of the stages required in producing a heritage Welsh wool blanket.

Her Royal Highness the princess of Wales visited Melin Tregwynt in north Pembrokeshire to learn how the mill produces its eye-catching Welsh wool blankets from start to finish.

Fittingly she wore a Welsh wool tapestry coat in autumnal tones, perfectly offset by smart olive-green trousers and top. Her outfit and the presence of a princess in their midst drew gasped of admiration from the crowd, who had gathered at the mill as the princess alighted her car.

HRH was greeted by Lord Lieutenant of Dyfed Sara Edwards and mill director Louise Clarke.

She first visited the weaving shed where Holly Williams, who has been working as a weaver at Tregwynt for five years showed her how the individual strands of wool are gathered at the beginning of making a blanket.

She then moved onto one of the looms where weaving supervisor Sean Jenkins, showed her how the loom worked and let her have a go at operating it.

Sean was present in 2012 when the Princess’ father-in law, King Charles visited the mill and also showed him how the looms work.

The princess then met weavers Lydia Dunn and Georgina Scorey who showed her how they hand tied new threads to create a new warp in the fabric. Again, the princess was keen to try her hand at this stage of the fabric’s creation.

HRH then met other workers in the weaving shed before visiting Paula Harding, the third generation of her family to work in quality control at Melin Tregwynt. Paula’s nan worked at the mill for 33 years, retiring at the age of eighty. Her mother still works with her in quality control.

Paula showed the Princess how to repair a fault in the fabric, and again she was keen to have a go.

“Is that how you fix a jumper?” she asked Paula.

“It’s a big responsibility,” she said of Paula’s role at Melin Tregwynt. “Does it become second nature?”

Then it was onto the sewing room where HRH met sisters Cindy Davis and Laisely Perrin. Their job is to stich and edge the blankets and cushions and put the finishing touch of a Melin Tregwyn label on them.

“You make it look super easy,” said the Princess. “It is lovely to do something so tactile with your hands.

She asked the sisters if they had always enjoyed making things and learnt that it is a skill that has been passed down the family; their grandad was a tailor, and their mum made wedding dresses.

The Princess then made a private visit to Melin Tregwynt’s shop, where she was presented with a king-sized Vintage Star blanket in the clay colourway.

She spent some time talking to the staff and the crowd before getting into the royal cavalcade to travel to her next engagement at Hiut Denim in Cardigan.

In the crowd she chatted with local youngster Luca Couzens telling him he was just like her son for not wearing a coat in winter, and posing for a photo.

“It was a huge privilege, we are so fortunate to have her come to visit us,” said Melin Tregwynt site manager James Lamb.

“The way she engaged with everybody was incredible. It was amazing. She was very natural and very interested in all the staff and what they do.

“It has been a fantastic opportunity for the business.”

Melin Tregwynt director, Louise Clarke added:

“It was lovely. She was interested in every part of the process, what everyone was doing and why and how each process affected the next.

“She was fantastic, she is just so easy to talk to. I’ve just been really relaxed from the moment that she came, it was just that feeling that you could say anything.

“She was so down to earth and natural and really wanted to be here.

“That she endorses what we do is lovely. Having someone like the Princess come gives us that different reach.”