The following is a message from Cllr David Simpson, Leader of Pembrokeshire County Council:

OVER the last two weeks we have again seen a high level of visitors to the county and this will continue as we move towards schools breaking up for the summer holidays.

It is clear that Pembrokeshire is a favourite destination for many.

It is fantastic that as a county we can once again welcome people and I want to thank all the authority’s officers that have been involved in our “unlocking plan” to ensure we are open, can welcome people back and support our communities.

Yesterday we had a special visit to our county from His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales, where he visited St David’s, Nevern and Haverfordwest.

Understandably the visits were much more low key than they would normally be given the current circumstances but I’m pleased to say the visits were extremely well received by those invited to attend.

His Royal Highness began his day at St David’s Cathedral, his first visit to the Cathedral since 2008.

The Prince of Wales made a ‘pilgrim’s journey’ to the Shrine of St David, which was restored this year.

His Royal Highness also attended a short service to mark the Centenary of the Church in Wales before attending a reception and meeting members of the Cathedral and local community.

His Royal Highness’ visit continued to St Brynach Church in Nevern to view and hear about a major project to restore the church’s 12^th century tower and bells.

He met several members of the Tower and Bells Restoration committee and heard about the huge fundraising drive (the project cost more than £500,000) and the work that has taken place.

The number of bells has now been increased from six to 13 and during his visit, HRH heard a full peals of bells – the first to be sounded in Nevern for 120 years.

HRH also met a locally-based artist before being presented to archaeologists and other members of the Nevern Castle Committee HRH also met representatives of Nevern Show, which recently celebrated its 70^th anniversary, and George, a five-year-old shire horse!

The final visit of the day came at St Martin’s Church in Haverfordwest, which is celebrating its 901 year anniversary.

Inside the church His Royal Highness viewed the Stations of the Cross around the walls, the stone coffin lid in the Sanctuary, and the Stephen Sykes bas-relief sculpture in the Lady Chapel.

The Prince met several members of the congregation and some of the amazing people who volunteer in the organisations that form part of the local community.

He thoroughly enjoyed his visit as he chatted to representatives of the choir, the Alter Guild and Members of the Pembrokeshire Blind Society, which celebrated its 100th Anniversary last year.

I’d like to thank everyone involved who have been working on these visits for several months. Royal visits involve a huge amount of work behind the scenes and even more so during the current situation.

Continuing the theme of thanks, Last Sunday, July 4^th, we celebrated national “Thank you day”.

It is so important that we all recognise the importance of saying thank you. We all have someone to say thank you to.

I feel the last 16 months has really shown the strengths we have around Pembrokeshire, the strength of our communities, the strength of our businesses, the strength of us all working together and the strength of Team Pembrokeshire.

So I want to take this opportunity to once again say thank you to you all and also a huge thank you to my family for supporting me. Please remember a simple thank you can put a smile on someone’s face.

Thanks were also given on Monday to NHS, social care and frontline workers. It was great to hear that church bells were also ringing to celebrate 73 years of the NHS. Thank you to all our NHS, social care and frontline workers for everything you have done and continue to do.

You will, no doubt, have seen that England has announced major upcoming changes to Covid-19 restrictions.

In Wales, we await the First Minister’s announcements next week.

In the meantime, I do urge you all to keep safe and when offered a vaccination please take up the opportunity.

I would also like to support our partners in Hywel Dda University Health Board who have praised young people across Pembrokeshire who have played an important role in helping to keep our local communities safe and supported throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

The efforts of our younger generation who have followed the rules to stay safe, protect themselves and those around them and, more recently, coming forward for vaccination.

With the number of Covid-19 cases now rising across all three counties, it is anticipated that the success of the vaccination programme will continue to result in lower hospital admissions than that seen last year.

However, the key message for younger people (or those not vaccinated) is that there continues to be a risk of contracting the virus. If you are aged between 18 and 29 years, please listen to the advice and protect yourself and others by getting vaccinated and, to safeguard your ability to enjoy day-to-day life.

In another development to tackle the recent rise in Covid, a new Covid-19 vaccination clinic will be operating in Pembroke Dock today (Friday) and tomorrow, Saturday 10th July.

The mobile vaccination clinic will be based at Western Way car park, behind Asda, and will operate from 11am to 7pm. Plus there is no need to contact the health board to book an appointment.

Going forward my updates will now move to fortnightly.