BROMSGROVE School will be honoured at the weekend when it is given the freedom of Llanwrtyd Wells in Wales.

The honour will be presented to the Worcester Road school during a ceremony this Sunday (October 14) in the mid-Wales town.

The ceremony will mark the culmination of a weekend of activities including an art exhibition, concert, civic thanksgiving and a church service, organised to celebrate the links between Bromsgrove School and the town.

The freedom of the town will be presented in recognition of the close relationship between the school and the people of Llanwrtyd Wells, which developed when the school was evacuated there at the start of World War Two.

Llanwrtyd Wells, which is the smallest town in the UK, played host to the school between 1939 and 1945 when its premises were requisitioned by the War Office.

The pupils were housed and taught in the Abernant Lake Hotel and, in 1940, the 400-year-old school founded the Bromsgrove Junior School there at the request of parents and with the support of the townspeople.

Many other premises in Llanwrtyd Wells were generously given by the townspeople for use by the junior school including Ardwyn House, Lasswade Country House Hotel, the Granary Warehouse and the Sulphur Water Spring.

In 1990, as a token of its gratitude, the Bromsgrovian Club presented a sum of money to facilitate the building of Bromsgrove Hall in Llanwrtyd Wells.

Philip St J Bowen, deputy headmaster of Bromsgrove School, said: "We are very much looking forward to our prospective visit to Llanwrtyd Wells and we feel honoured and humbled by the award of the freedom of the town.

"We have enjoyed a close relationship with the town since our exile there during the Second World War and are very grateful to the people of the town for the hospitality and kindness they showed us then and the honour they bestow upon us now."

Rosemary Stevenson, mayor of Llanwrtyd Wells, said: "Offering the freedom of the town to Bromsgrove School is to mark the very close association there is between the school and the people of Llanwrtyd Wells, and long may that association continue.

"We were happy to welcome them into our community then and we are even more delighted to welcome them back as honorary citizens of our town," added the mayor.