The day began with a fantastic performance from local youth theatre group, Carmarthen and District Youth Opera, who performed excerpts from their most recent show Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The concert was held in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Youth Opera and was attended by dignitaries including Her Royal Highness, who has been the royal patron of the Youth Opera since 2010, the Deputy Lord-Lieutenant of Dyfed and representatives of Carmarthenshire County Council.
Also in attendance was Wynne Evans, who you all may know better as Gio Compario, the GoCompare man. Wynne’s mother, Liz Evans, founded Carmarthen’s Lyric Theatre and Carmarthen and District Youth Opera.
Burns Pet Nutrition has sponsored Carmarthen and District Youth Opera for the last four years and were delighted to be invited to be a part of their celebrations. It was clear to see that there was a real excitement amongst the children and young people of the cast.
Oliver John, a member of the cast said,
“Her Royal Highness said she recognised me from when I performed years ago at Llwynywermod, but I was only a kid then. She talked to us about the show, it was a real privilege to meet her.”
After enjoying what was a thoroughly entertaining performance, by some truly talented young people, we had to hot foot it down to Carmarthen market where we were lucky enough to receive a visit from Her Royal Highness at the Burns Pet Nutrition shop.
The Duchess took a tour of the market before she stopped off at our shop where she was greeted by John and shop manager Richard. Her Royal Highness was also introduced to Odette Nicholas, one of our reading dog volunteers, with dog Jade who discussed our reading dog scheme Burns By Your Side.
“She seemed to be very interested in the Burns By Your Side reading dog scheme. I introduced her to my dog Jade and she took the time to interact with her which was really nice.” Said Odette.
Her Royal Highness was presented with Burns goody bags filled with food and treats for her own dogs, Beth and Bluebell the Jack Russell’s.
John Burns commented
“It was a great opportunity to present The Duchess with some of our food and treats for her own dogs. She asked me about the food that we produce, and I told her about the benefits of our products for pet health management. We hope that the food will put a spring in their step.”