AN important awards event at Craig-y-Nos Castle was held up because the Prince of Wales was unable to get there in his helicopter.

The PRIME Cymru Awards on Wednesday, July 12, was delayed by 50 minutes while the Prince travelled by road from his previous engagement at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant rather than risk being flown in the Royal helicopter in low cloud and driving rain.

It meant the guests at the PRIME Cymru event had to wait a little while to begin their dinner and the presentations at the castle, once home to opera legend Adelina Patti (1843-1919), were delayed.

Prince Charles, who is the founder and president of PRIME Cymru, visited the Royal Mint and the castle as part of his recent visit to Wales. The prince had visited the Royal Welsh Regimental Museum in Brecon on Tuesday, July 11 and opened a food and farming conference at Llandovery, as well as other events, during his annual tour of mid Wales during which he stayed at his farmhouse, near Myddfai.

PRIME Cymru provides practical support to people aged 50 and over to help them find work or set up in business.

The awards this year were presented by the BBC’s Lucy Owen and featured two finalists from the Brecon and Radnorshire area.

Nic Williams, from Llandrindod Wells, won the New Business Award for the business she set up which supports people in their home and lifestyle with every day tasks like walking the dog, cleaning or outings to the shop.

Lynn Kay, nominated for the Growth Business Award, has been running hands-on music workshops for disabled or disadvantaged people through her Hay-on-Wye firm Beat It Percussion. Most recently she has been running a drumming workshop at Theatr Brycheiniog for people with dementia.

There were four categories in total – the New Business Award, Growth Business Award, Green Business Award and Mentor of the Year Award.

One in three people aged between 50 and retirement age are unemployed in Wales, a total of about 210,000 people. The prince said the number of unemployed people, who are not in education or training, is more than four times the number of those in the 16-24 age group. He said: “What I am really pleased about is to be able to deal with both ends of the spectrum, as frequently people don’t realise how many over 50s are in these difficult situations.

“Research shows that around one third of all those currently economically inactive and over 50 would actually like to work, ad that’s the point.

“But bespoke services for the 50-plus age group to assist with addressing what are often multiple barriers is not always easy to find.

“I am really impressed by what PRIME Cymru is able to achieve, to enable people to fulfil their dreams after they have had, very often, a difficult time being made redundant.

“I particularly want to congratulate all the people who won the awards today and, also wanted to say, all those who haven’t won an award are equally important and are making a huge contribution to the life of the economy of Wales. Llongyfarchiadau.”