PEMBROKESHIRE people are being urged to join in the minute's silence for Prince Philip at 3pm today, Saturday April 17.

The reminder for the mark of respect at the start of the funeral of the Queen's husband has come from Pembrokeshire County Council leader, Cllr David Simpson.

In his weekly leader's update ahead, he shared his memories of meeting the Prince through his involvement with the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme.

Cllr Simpson said: "The Duke’s passing was a very sad occasion for me as I have been involved with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme since 1965 when I started my Bronze award.

‘My school was one of the first to start the scheme in Glamorgan and was run by Mr Martin Gilbert, our geography teacher. He showed us that there was a life outside the school railings. His enthusiasm for the outdoors stayed with me for the rest of my life.

"We were encouraged to go outside of our comfort zone on many occasions. After completing the Bronze and Silver awards, I then went onto the Gold award where I ended up with a trip to Morocco for my Gold expedition.

"Four of us went in my Land Rover and had a life-changing experience. My first time abroad at 19 and into the High Atlas Mountains and the Sahara Desert.

"The award scheme taught us lessons that will never be forgotten. Honesty, integrity and that true friends are there for life and should support each other whatever happens.

"On completing the awards, I sat for many years on the advisory panel for Wales for the scheme.

"I have had the pleasure of meeting HRH on several occasions at Buckingham Place, Guildhall, London; fundraising dinners at County Hall, Cardiff and the most memorable was on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral where I was part of the guard of honour at the 25th anniversary celebration service.

"At each event, he was a lovely man to converse with.

"His Royal Highness had a very big impression on my life and many others that have gone through the scheme.

"One of the greatest pleasures and honour of my life has been to be one of the ambassadors for Wales for the scheme over the past years.

"As you can see, the Duke has had, and always will have, a great presence and influence in my life and I thank him most sincerely for allowing me to have been on the award scheme journey.

"Please join me in commemorating the Duke’s life during a minute’s silence at 3pm, thank you."

Turning to the ongoing Covid-19 situation, Cllr Simpson said: "It was fantastic to see all pupils returning to schools and the re-opening of non-essential retail this week. It is another milestone out of restrictions.

"I’m pleased to say numbers of new cases continue to fall locally.

"The Pembrokeshire seven day case rate as of Thursday was 10.3 per 100,000.

"Please continue to follow the rules and keep the numbers going in the right direction.

“We all still have a responsibility to keep doing the right things and keeping infections low.

"Across the Hywel Dda area, total vaccinations have gone over the quarter of a million mark with a further 21,857 first and second doses given in the last week.

‘In Pembrokeshire, there have now been 66,657 first doses – 53 per cent of the population – and 18,008 people have received both doses, equivalent to 14.3 per cent of the population.

"‘Thank you all for your efforts so far, let’s keep it going."