On Tuesday (December, 19) locals came together at Abergavenny Baptist Church for the annual Peacelight Service. 

Over the course of nearly three decades; a child has kindled a flame from the “Eternal Flame”, found at the Nativity Grotto in Bethlehem where Jesus was born. 

The light is then flown to Austria from where it is distributed at a Service of Dedication to delegations from across Europe who take it back with a message of Peace, to their own countries. 

Scouts and Guides can then take the light on to other churches, hospitals, old people homes, prisons, and places of public, cultural and political importance.

Organised by the local Scouts, the Peacelight Service was a poignant symbol of hope. Prayers and poems were shared in the service by scouts, as people bared witness to the light that had travelled from Bethlehem in Palestine to Bethlehem in Carmarthenshire.

Mayor of Abergavenny, Cllr Anne Wilde said: “In these troubled times it was good to focus on light, hope and peace.”