A DEDICATED volunteer had a pleasant surprised when he received an invite to the Prince of Wales’ 70th birthday celebrations.

Cllr Gerry Frobisher, Mayor of Prestatyn and Meliden and co-ordinator for North Wales Young Dragons/Dreigiau Ifand, will attend Prince Charles’ birthday patronage celebration in the gardens of Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, May 22.

The reception, marking an early start to the prince’s birthday celebrations as he turns 70 in November, will celebrate the work of the heir to the throne’s patronages, charities and military affiliations and others involved in public service.

This will be Cllr Frobisher’s fourth garden party at Buckingham Palace and he also was appointed an MBE there in 2007.

He will be representing the North Wales Young Dragons at the event and is part of a five-person delegation.

Father-of-four Cllr Frobisher said: “The invitation was out of the blue – it was a pleasant and exciting surprise.

“It is always a pleasure to meet the Prince of Wales. Through the Young Dragons I have organised three guards of honour of 30 young people from the 10 uniformed youth organisations that make up Young Dragons, two for Prince Charles – St Asaph and Corwen – and one for Prince William and Kate at Caernarfon.

“I had a conversation with the Queen during her visit to Llandudno some years ago. I have met and spoken with Prince Charles five or six times through my Young Dragons work.

“He invested me with my MBE in May 2007 at Buckingham Palace prior to my involvement with Young Dragons.”

Young Dragons Wales was launched in June 2009, shortly before Cllr Frobisher became the North Wales

co-ordinator.

The dragons team has been involved in 336 community events and carried out 100 fundraising events.

Young Dragons Wales, a scheme of Prince Charles, which was launched by the prince in June 2009, is a partnership of the Air Training Corps (ATC), Army Cadet Force, Sea Cadet Corps, Combined Cadet Force, Reserve Forces and Cadet Associations, Girlguiding Cymru, St John Ambulance in Wales, Scouts Wales, Prince’s Trust Cymru, the Police in Wales, the Fire and Rescue Services in Wales, the Armed Services in Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government.

The former ‘all Wales Co-ordinator’, who is married to Sharon and has grown-up children Adam, Charlotte, Alice and Harriet, has attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace on three occasions previously - the first after being nominated by the Lord Lieutenant of Clwyd for his work with North Wales Young Dragons, the second when Prince Charles’s office nominated him for his work with Young Dragons Wales and he represented his late father - Ernest Frobisher - who was unable to attend a Blind Veterans reception.

Cllr Frobisher added: “The role is very fulfilling. It is a voluntary role and takes up quite a bit of my time.

“It makes my day seeing young people enjoying getting involved in volunteering in their community.

“Receiving the invitation goes some way to recognising the youth work and volunteering that goes on in the community that people are unaware of.”

Mr Frobisher will attend the royal reception alongside Gareth Watson and Richard Flowerdew from Scouts Cymru, Daniel Lyons from St John Cymru Wales and Rachel Short from Girlguiding Cymru who will all be representing Young Dragons Wales.