Mongolian ambassador gets warm Welsh welcome

Pupils at Prendergast School made a special effort when they received a VIP recently.

They took the trouble to find out the spelling of the world ‘welcome' in Mongolian so that they could offer a friendly greeting to that country's Ambassador when he visited the school.

His Excellency Bulgaa Altangerel was in Pembrokeshire with his wife, Mrs Erdenee Chuluuntsetseg, to attend a concert organised by Soroptimists International (SI) of Fishguard and District.

One of the organisation's members, Sally Francis - a former headteacher at Mount Airey School in Haverfordwest - is working as an educational advisor with Voluntary Services Overseas in Mongolia.

Her Soroptimist colleagues in Fishguard offered to organise the concert as part of an International Evening to raise funds for the children of the Twelfth School in Darkhan - Mongolia's second city.

Aged between six to 16, their parents are nomadic herders whom they only see a few times a year. Some are orphans and they all live at the school where conditions are basic in the extreme with little or no play equipment.

Both His Excellency and his wife were delighted to visit Prendergast School and meet the pupils.

Earlier they had been guests of Pembrokeshire County Council Chairman, Councillor Anne Hughes, in County Hall.

There they met the Mayor of Fishguard, Councillor Gwilym Price and Mrs Price, and the President of the SI Fishguard and District, Pat Roblin and her Soroptimist colleagues. Jordan Evans, chairman of the Pembrokeshire Youth Assembly, was also present.