WREXHAM is no ordinary place as a raft of weird and fascinating tales collected by organisers of a bid to reclaim a historic bank holiday have discovered.

Dydd Llun Pawb, which translates as Everybody’s Monday, was a 19th century festival when folk descended on the town centre to enjoy music and shows.

It was a forerunner of what we mark as bank holidays and it has inspired a group of local artists to collect strange tales of Wrexham’s past as part of a new celebration.

The revival of the event on Easter Monday, April 2, will mark the opening of the £4.5 million People’s Market development as an arts space by recalling times long gone with the most wonderful tales turned into six souvenirs to mark the day.

A shortlist of 25 quirky stories that have tickled the fancies of Wrexhamites passed through an online vote during November.

They include the bizarre tale of how thousands of boxes of LEGO were left buried at Wrexham Industrial Estate by workers at the former Courtaulds factory.

After production ground to halt in the 1970s, staff found destroying the surplus sets problematic as they let off a pungent smoke.

So they chose to bury all the LEGO underground instead where they will no doubt confuse archaelogists in years to come.

There is a touch of glamour and high society to the poignant story of Wrexham’s own Miss World, Rosemarie Frankland.

The competition’s 1961 winner, who was brought up in Rhos, ended up on the arm of Bob Hope with the Hollywood legend declaring she was “the most beautiful girl he had ever seen” when he crowned her at London’s Lyceum Theatre.

She visited US army bases with Hope but her relationship with the womanising performer was rumoured to be more than just a tour of duty and service as his personal assistant.

The pair were rumoured to have conducted an extra-marital affair and she starred alongside Hope in the risque comedy film “I’ll take Sweden”.

She eventually ended up marrying Warren Entner, the singer of 1970s rock band The Grass Roots, but her later years were marred by a battle with depression and drugs and she died of a suspected overdose in 2000 aged 57.

She was true to her Welsh roots and her ashes were scattered back home in Rhos.

The project, inspired by artists Marc Rees and Lisa Heledd Jones, includes community champion Marjorie Dykins, who dedicated her life to serving others.

Marjorie is credited with founding Wrexham’s first playgroup in Garden Village in 1950 and she later became the Pre-School Playgroup Association’s National Adviser to Wales.

She was also a founder of AVOW, the Association of Voluntary Organisations in Wrexham, and worked with Homestart, Family Friends, and served as both chairman of the Wales Council for Voluntary Action and Wrexham Citizens Advice Bureau.

Born to a Welsh-speaking family in Acrefair, she won a scholarship to study Biochemistry at a US university in the 1950s, but it was back in her beloved Wrexham that she made a mark in the third sector. Her kind heart saw here even give up a room in her house to provide a home for an asylum seeker.

When she died aged 86 in 2015, a plaque was unveiled in tribute at the offices of AVOW, whose chief officer John Gallanders said at the time: “Marjorie was an inspiration to all who met her, and inspired countless people to take up volunteering for the benefit of others. There are many organisations in Wrexham that were either started or supported by Marjorie, ensuring those in the greatest need could always find help.”

Her long-time friend, Cllr Barbara Roxburgh, also said: “The list of positive contributions she made to Wrexham is endless. It just goes on. She had a go at everything.”

Marjorie’s story features high on Dydd Llun Pawb’s favourite tales, in joint second spot with 13 per cent of all votes cast.

Artists Marc and Lisa were joined by Wrexham poet Sophie Mckeand when they launched the project with a reading in Wrexham town centre last April.

They cited the criticism Wrexham received from a reviewer for the ‘Spectator’ magazine who in 1876 described it as “an ugly and uninteresting place... crowded with people who are unbeautiful”.

But stories like those of glamour girl Rosemarie and community worker Marjorie are what makes the town such a hidden gem.

“You may have to buff it up a bit to see the sheen, but there is a sparkle especially from its people who have a great sense of humour,” said Marc. “We have heard some wonderful tales and insights and an event such as Dydd Llun Pawb can galvanise the community and help reaffirm Wrexham’s identity which is something that locals feel has been lost.”