THE last invasion of Britain was marked in Fishguard last week with three days of events culminating with a parade through the town and cannon fire on the Old Fort.

The celebrations began with the launch of a genealogy project to research how many families have ancestors who would have been eyewitnesses at the time of the Last Invasion.

The project was oversubscribed and so popular that another session will run in the near future to accommodate those who could not get into the first session.

On Friday, February 22, an audience of around 90 attended Barrie Thomas' film, Napoleonic Weekend - Fishguard 1997 at Theatr Gwaun recounting the last invasion bicentenary celebrations in 1997.

The culmination of the celebrations was Saturday's Big Bang parade from the Golden Mile to the Gorsedd Circle on Penslade.

The Corps of Drums and soldiers from the Pembroke Yeomanry led the way, followed by Fishguard & Goodwick Sea Cadets, the local Beavers Cubs groups and a good gathering of locals residents and visitors to the area. Not forgetting Fishguard heroine Jemima Nicholas, aka Kay Roach.

Once at the Gorsedd Circle a young Sea Cadet stood out clearly as a solitary figure against the skyline as signalled the word "fire" in semaphore across to the fort.

Afterwards, the new Last Invasion Ballad by Broadoak was premiered in the Royal Oak.

The celebrations were organised by Fishguard Last Invasion Trust.

"I think it was pretty successful," said Geoff Stickler who was one of the organisers. "The whole aim of this is we want it to improve every year, leading up to 2022 which will be the 225 anniversary.

"There was quite a turn out of the public for the parade which was really encouraging. The genealogy event was oversubscribed, and we had a good audience in the theatre.

"In 2022 we hope to have a lot of events taking place through the year, we are hoping to get people back into the frame of mind they were in for the bicentenary."