It may not yet be quite an internet phenomenon but the video "Ain't Seen Ruthin Yet" has managed to grow its YouTube hits 10 fold since I first came across it. Then, it had managed 2,003 hits. Now at over 20,000, it's four times the target set by "David Garland Jones". "But there is a town in North Wales, That also needs a lift, And this is David's gift…"Unsurprisingly, look out for a feature on the actor-singer on page 26 of tomorrow's Free Press. In it, Russell Gomer, who plays Garland Jones, admits he's never been to Rhuthun, though in an earlier article in the Western Mail, Gomer actually says he's stayed in town—it's just the character he plays who hasn't. Either the Western Mail or the Free Press has it wrong.
"For whilst I've been to Newport many times yeah, I ain't seen Ruthin yet"In the Western Mail, Gomer's co-writer even suggests of Garland Jones that "becoming the mayor of Ruthin could even be David's next goal." Now, there's an interesting thought. The last town council wasn't elected because there were too few candidates to force one. Perhaps Gomer/Garland Jones might be able to help the democratic process, to give people a choice. Subject to their being enough candidates, elections are due in May 2011.
For services to Rhuthun, I wonder whether he'd get a decent turnout.
P.S. Small point. I think the rail line and its stations closed in 1963, not 1962 as the video suggests...
Link to video