Abergavenny Festival of Cycling organiser Bill Owen MBE, was honoured to be asked to carry the Queen’s Baton as it made it’s way through Monmouth.

The Baton for the Gold Coast Commonweath Games 2018 came face to face with the very first Queen’s Baton which started life in Wales as the prelude to the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff.

The original baton belongs to Mrs Hackett Pain, the daughter of Sir Godfrey Llewellyn, who was chairman of the organising committee for the 1958 Games.

Mrs Hackett Pain, who was a special guest at the Monmouth event, also has copies of the Queen’s message inside the original baton, along with medals from the Games.

Team Wales cyclist Lewis Oliva, who is hoping to appear at his third Commonwealth Games next April, is a former pupil at Monmouth school and opened the occasion with a lap around the sports ground.

Former professional cricketers Andrew Jones and James Boiling, both teachers at the school, enjoyed a brisk lap with the baton.

Baton bearer Bill said he was delighted to be invited by Monmouth Haberdashers’ School, who organised the Monmouth leg, and he thoroughly enjoyed the experience of seeing so many excited children at a sporting occasion.

Owen, who has been the backbone of cycling in Wales for many years, said, “I didn’t expect all the children to be having such a brilliant time. Let’s hope this event leaves a legacy because that’s what I have tried to do all my life in my chosen sport.”