Highest accolade for brass band champions and top paralympian
ONE of the UK’s most successful Paralympians of all time and the world’s best brass band have both been awarded the highest accolade in Rhondda Cynon Taf.
Champion swimmer David Roberts and The Cory Band were presented with the Freedom of RCT at a special ceremony last week.
It was held at the Coliseum Theatre in Aberdare, and 11-time Paralympic gold medallist David, from Llantwit Fardre, joined the ceremony via Skype from his home in Sweden.
Musical director Philip Harper collected the honour on behalf of the Rhondda-based Cory Band, which has been ranked the number one brass band in the world for the past 10 years.
The mayor of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Coun Rhys Lewis also presented the 2017 Mayor’s Good Citizen Awards to seven groups and individuals, and a special recognition award was presented to past and present Paralympians from the county borough.
Only a handful of individuals and groups have ever been honoured like this – to date the Royal Welsh, tenor Stuart Burrows, the miners of South Wales, writer Elaine Morgan, the Welsh Guards and the late Bernard Baldwin, founder of the Nos Galan Road Races.
They were joined in 2016 by Tunisia shooting hero Mathew James from Pontypridd and celebrated Cynon Valley boxer Dai Dower, whose family accepted the award in his honour three months after his death in August.
David, who received the honour on Tuesday, is the greatest male Paralympian the UK has ever produced, with his gold medal tally equalling that of Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson.
A professional swimmer who has represented Wales and Great Britain, David was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of 11, and first represented Wales at the age of 13.
Now living in Stockholm with wife Agata and son Dylan, his parents Carol and Alun accepted the honour on his behalf, but David was also able to join the ceremony via Skype from his home over 1,300 miles away.
The Cory Band was then given its honour, and performed for guests at the ceremony which was hosted by BBC broadcaster Beverley Humphreys. Formed in 1884, the band gained championship status in 1920 and three years later performed what is believed to be the first radio broadcast by a brass band.
They are the only brass band to ever win all four major titles in the same year – the British Open, Champions of Great Britain, Champions of Europe and Champions of Brass in Europe, and have been ranked number one brass band in the world for the past decade.