Childhood Memories inspire Memorial Bench

Although he emigrated with his family from Neyland to Canada in 1970, Mr. Adrian Welham has never forgotten the town of his birth. The son of Mr. Derek Welham and Marion his wife (nee Hewitt) he was born at Harbour Close in September 1959 the second of four children. The family moved to No. 4 Railway Terrace in 1968 and to a new life in Canada two years later.

Adrian has been living at Gimli, Manitoba since 1974 and is married to Jo-Ann. The couple have been married for 36 years and have two grown-up children, Rhys and Carly. The couple visit their many friends in Pembrokeshire most winters usually coinciding with the six nations rugby tournament. Adrian had a great love for his grandparents, Jack Welham (1912-96) and Olive (1914-2006) his wife. Last Wednesday a bench in memory of the couple was dedicated on Neyland Promenade.

The location is especially poignant since Jack Welham had a lifetime’s affinity with the sea, helping with the sea scouts, building his own boats and he was one of the founding members of Neyland Yacht Club in the early 1960s. The ceremony was attended by several local residents, the Edwards family of Great Eastern Terrace who were long-standing friends of the Welham’s.

The Mayor of Neyland Dr Simon Hancock said ‘I am sure everyone in the town will be grateful to Mr and Mrs Welham for their generous gift of a bench in memory of Jack and Olive Welham. They were the first residents of Harbour Close in 1949 and they were next door neighbours of my grandmother Dolly Cole for more than 50 years. They were a wonderful couple. I am also grateful to the maintenance team of the county council for fixing the bench.’

Mr. Adrian Welham is a property developer who has created a little part of Pembrokshire on the prairies. He has created an estate with familiar-sounding names like Westfield Way, Brunel Lane, Neyland Way, Pembroke Way, Honeyborough Lane and Railway Terrace.

An ocean is no limit to the bonds of love and family..