Pier plaque wish granted! (From Penarth Times)

Pier plaque wish granted!

3:20pm Sunday 5th July 2009

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A PENARTH man’s dying wish to have a memorial plaque placed next to his brother’s on Penarth Pier has been given the go-ahead by Vale of Glamorgan Council chiefs, after the request was initially turned down.

As reported in last week’s Penarth Times, Stuart Todd, a former handyman at Llandough Hospital and a member of Penarth Labour Club and Cogan Coronation Club, asked for the tribute before his death in April.

Surgery on Mr Todd’s throat meant he was unable to speak – but the 58-year-old wrote a letter to his partner Christine Griffiths.

The note asked Mrs Griffiths, of Corinthian Close in Llandough, to arrange for a Pier memorial plaque to be placed next to a similar tribute to his brother, Yabow.

Vale Council officials initially turned down the request as the plaque would have to run above the existing tribute.

But the authority has now changed its stance and will honour Mr Todd’s wish when the next batch of plaques are put in place.

Mrs Griffiths said: “I’m so pleased.

“I’ve been told it could take a couple of months but time really isn’t the issue – I just wanted to make sure Stuart got the one thing he asked for before he died.”

Plaques are fixed to the pier boardwalk every couple of months.

Cllr Paul Church, of the St Augustine’s Ward, said: “I was concerned after reading the story in the Penarth Times.

“The pier is part of my ward so I contacted Dave Knevett (Vale Council operational manager for leisure and tourism) straight away.

“It’s not always possible to put plaques exactly where people want them but it’s been decided that this is a special case.

“Mr Todd’s plaque will be on the pier in the very near future.”

Cllr Anthony Ernest, cabinet member for tourism and leisure, said: "I am very sorry to hear of the difficulty that Mrs Griffiths has had in relation to the placing of a plaque in memory of Mr Todd, at a particular spot on Penarth Pier, and I have asked my officers who administer this very popular scheme to carefully reconsider her request.

"Purchasers of the brass plaques have never been guaranteed a precise location since the scheme commenced several years ago, and our craftsmen normally install the plaques in batches, as and when they are purchased.

"However we always aim to be flexible wherever possible."

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