No tanks for sad decision

2:58pm Sunday 29th June 2008

Despair and regret met the unavoidable decision to hand Pembroke Dock's monumental Chieftain tank over to the Royal Tank Regiment.

A divided town council has reluctantly surrendered its fight to keep the priceless piece of wartime history on display in Pembroke Dock.

When the agonising decision was at last made, Pembroke Dock mayor, Cllr Ron Watts said: "My heart is bleeding.

"The tank regiment will be laughing all the way back to Castlemartin ."

"But", he conceded: "Unfortunately, only the tank regiments can afford to do it up."

A number of avenues were explored as possible ways of restoring and preserving the historical tank, for which the town was given special permission to have it on public display more than ten years ago. However, finding sufficient funding to renovate and maintain the tank proved to be a logistical nightmare for the council.

In response to comments claiming that the necessary expenditure would be unfair on the rate payers of the town', deputy mayor Cllr Pam George said: "Everyone knows how I feel about the tank. It was presented to the town as a gift and we are still getting a lot of people who served here in Pembroke Dock coming to visit."

As the debate came to a head, Cllr Christine Gwyther commented: "The fact is that we're not throwing the tank on the scrapheap. It would be going to a regiment who would keep it and look after it properly."

A vote in favour of the handover decided the Chieftain's fate after nearly 12 months of being fenced off as a possible health and safety hazard.

Cllr Watts added: "I'll be down there crying when it leaves."

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