THIS year the good people of Laugharne will be celebrating 100 years since the birth of Dylan Thomas, that great Welsh poet who was not born in Laugharne but wrote some of his greatest works in his Boathouse situated above the river Taf estuary.

The estimated population of Laugharne is approximately 3,000 people. However, the residents of this little town are so proud of their adopted national poet who was actually born in Swansea, that they have two or is it three statues in memory of him?

One funded by Langharne’s youth club. The town has also preserved the boathouse where Dylan wrote many of his poems and the world famous Under Milk Wood.

Laugharne will be buzzing this year. It will be full of American tourists flocking to the Boathouse, his grave, and to Brown’s Hotel where he spent most of his time.

It was Henry VII’s birthday on January 28. The date went unnoticed.

Hardly anybody knows the year of his birth let alone his birthday. Henry VII has had 667 birthdays. Perhaps the townspeople would know the date of his birth if we had a statue to the first Tudor King, but then we have not even got a blue plaque to his memory.

I have campaigned for a statue of Henry VII for over 30 years and I shall keep on doing so.

Obviously Carmarthenshire County Council differs greatly from Pembrokeshire in that they are justifiably proud of their famous, but adopted son.

MELANIE PHILLIPS

Pembroke