Wrexham County Borough 79 - cometh the hour, commeth the judges/city status /knitting takes on a new meaning

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"When you are out pick up a newspaper " That is an unusual request these days. When I swim that is all I do. I never nip off to pick up the local rag. There is never anything worth reading in it . But today I was informed was different .

There was a whole section on the local Football team - Wrexham AFC . That is Wrexham Association Football club not Wrexham Athletic as our local MP spoke about in the Houses of Parliament . Not once did she get the name wrong but twice . But that is an aside . She won't be MP next election . The town is playing on Sunday in the final of the FA Trophy competition at Wembley . There is great excitement with around 20K tickets sold although that number will probably be higher as many have bought tickets in the neutral part of the ground . Possibly 25 thousand will descend on High Wycombe or Watford and travel in to London for the final. Our owners R & R - Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElleney are flying in with their families from Hollywood . It is going to be a day to remember . We may not get promotion this year but we have finished finalists in this competition and second in the League which means a play off place . We have tickets for the match . A corner seat in the Wrexham end in the first tier of the stadium. We plan to drive down to High Wycome and park up before getting the train into Wembley. The journey may be fraught due to road works but parking in the shopping mall should be easy and free on a Sunday . The trains should run regularly and we have already paid for our ticket . They run straight into Wembley without the need for a change . At night we have already booked a night at the Travel Lodge . At the moment with colds we are 50/50 about going and leaving a decision until the very last moment possible . The tickets are all printed out and ready though.

I left the pool which had been buzzing with talk about the final. Swimmers swapped stories about how difficult or easy it had been to purchase tickets , where they sitting and how they were getting there . I went for an early morning wander round the town . It was fairly empty but that suited me as it gives me chance to stop and stare . To look up and take photographs . . The old shops on Chester Street looked delightful and full of quaint small and independent businesses . It brought back memories as I tried to remember what used to be in the shops when I was younger . A garage, car spares shop, an optician - all gone but replaced with something else . Saith Seren with its welsh concerts and welsh meeting place .

The bunting was up . This had been put up as we were in the running for City of Culture 2025. The hour had cometh and the judges had arrived last week to make their decision . I cannot imagine what Sir Phil Redmond thought of Wrexham in the rain . The Liverpool born television writer known for Grange Hill and Brookside must have had an interesting visit to the town which had put on welsh choral singing , african dance and music and taken him around the museums and galleries in search of culture . I hope he found it as our town has much to offer despite the apathy that seems to stem from some locals still being stuck in the past . The money would bring in further investment . Perhaps it would encourage more cultural events into the area.

I walked up to Lambpit Street . Passed the Butchers Market with its stone signage of a carved bull . The General Market and the doors to the long gone burnt down Hippodrome Cinema . The sight of the street in front of me amazed me . The area of the old cinema had been cleared and fenced . Turned in to a childrens play area with all the fencing covered in knitted sheets . Some were plain red and white . The colours of the football team . Others had Cymru or Wrexham stitched in to them . The seats were decked with knitting . It was colourful and bright . The street bollards were all decorated with knitting and the bunting was all hand knitted . It looked lovely and I found myself stopping at each display wondering who knitted the patchwork patterns . How long did it take and whose idea was it ? The town seems to reinventing itself . There are those who moan that it once was a thriving market town and now no longer had that appeal . Bring back the cattle market I hear shouted . Not sure that would encourage visitors . No infrastructure , poor doctors , awful hospitals . The complaints went on . But this display showed that despite all that the town still had a heart and some were prepared to make the town worthy of winning the City of Culture .

As I walked away I smiled . We might get to Wembley if our colds are better by the weekend . Wrexham might just win the Trophy and bring it back to the Cae Ras . It might spur them on to get promotion . It felt a good time to live in the town . Perhaps we have the two R's to thank for kickstarting that by buying the club .

I picked the paper up . The front page headline was around Wembley but tucked underneath Wrexham was now a city . I had forgotten about the bid put in for the city status . City status being awarded by the Queen every few years . This year being Platinum Jubilee Year there was another round of cities being chosen . Wrexham was one of nine new cities . So I can no longer call my home a town . We have a city charter and not everyone is happy . Time will tell what benefits it will bring . Time will tell if it helps or hinders our City of Culture bid .

It is going to take a while for it to sink in . Wrexham a city . Who ever would have thought it ?

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