PRINCE Charles paid a visit to Ammanford’s Corgi Hosiery and Morgan Marine Ltd in Llandybie today to officially open new extensions at both sites.

The Prince was greeted by local school children before being shown around Corgi’s 3000 sq ft extension which houses a new Factory Shop, new knitting machines and a large storage area to accommodate increasing sales through Corgi’s online store.

He was also introduced to staff and apprentices working at the family-run firm, which employs over sixty people from the Amman Valley area in a range of design, production and administration-based roles.

Among those he met were apprentices training at Corgi as part of an apprenticeship scheme run jointly by local college Coleg Sir Gâr and the training organisation Creative Skillset.

During his visit to the factory HRH was introduced to representatives of Combat Stress, the veteran’s mental health charity, who were invited to receive a cheque for £5000 from the company, money generated through sales of Corgi’s exclusive Regimental Collection socks.

Corgi’s Director Chris Jones, who runs the company jointly with his sister Lisa Wood, spoke of his delight to welcome The Prince back to the factory.

He said: “The Business has expanded significantly since his last visit to it’s been good to talk him through the exciting developments that have taken place and to introduce him to our growing team of staff and apprentices.”

The Prince then made the short journey to Morgan Marine Ltd in Llandybie where he was once again greeted by a group of local school children.

One little girl, six-year-old Kayla Jones, granddaughter of Director David Jones, was pleased to see The Prince arrive, handing him a bouquet of daffodil’s.

The Prince toured the production plant and met with some of the company’s apprentices and longest serving employees, before meeting representatives from some of the charity groups supported by Morgan Marine, including RYAN4LEUKAEMIA charity campaigner Ryan Davies and Paul Pugh, who has just launched a campaign to warn of the effects of alcohol-related crime.

The Prince then unveiled a plaque to officially open the new extension.

Managing Director of Morgan Marine, Martyn Ingram, said: “We have been delighted to welcome HRH the Prince of Wales to officially open our new building and to help Morgan Marine Ltd celebrate 50 years in business as a company.

“He enjoyed meeting and talking to our staff and we were pleased to be able to tell him about some of the work we do here at Morgan Marine.”

After wishing the business success for the future, The Prince was presented with a jar of Organic honey from young Toby Evans, son of the company Finance Director Sarah Evans.