Nansi and the cockerel

Sometimes being an MP is not just an honour, it’s pure, unalloyed fun.

Spent today, like a third of the rest of humanity, watching the royal wedding.  Most of you watched it yourselves, too, so I won’t go on about it.

After lunch, we went over to Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd, a lovely village at the foot of the Clwydian range, where I was to reopen the village hall, which has recently been restored.  The new hall is fully sustainable, benefiting from solar energy, recycled rainwater and a host of other features that make it, I am told, the most environmentally friendly community hall in Wales.  This enabled me to make a joke about “how green IS my valley” (“dyffryn” is the Welsh word for “valley” and yes, I admit it’s less than Wildean).

We spent the next hour drawing raffles, eating cake and chatting to people.  One lady was a harpist and told me a fascinating story about Nansi Richards, the famous harpist known as Telynores Maldwyn, who was a friend of John Harvey Kellogg, the Corn Flakes magnate.  Kellogg was in process of packaging Corn Flakes, which had previously been sold in bags.  Nansi told him he should put a cockerel on the box, because it was a morning food and “Kellogg” sounded like “ceiliog”, the Welsh for “rooster”.  Kellogg took Nansi’s advice and the cockerel features on Kelloggs packaging to this day.

Se non è vero, è molto ben trovato.

We then went on to Gellifor, another Clwydian jewel, where we joined a traditional street party, complete with bunting, funny hats and bags of bonhomie.

It was a seriously good day, full of happiness and genuine affection for our royal family.  They are truly our country’s greatest asset.