AN EX-MAYORYESS has hanged up the keys to a Flintshire landmark after 35 years as gatekeeper.

Cllr Vicky Perfect, who served as Flint Town Mayor in 2017-2018, has cared for the grounds, construction, and maintenance of Flint Castle for over three decades.

Cllr Perfect opened the gates to the majestic castle for the final time on September 30 due to disturbing comments on social media following an encounter with an uncooperative family of visitors.

The Leader:

Cllr Perfect told the Leader: "It was a very emotional day, and this is an emotional time."

After a "summer of abuse," Cllr Perfect, alongside a sad Mr Perfect and their "castle dog" Rinty, opened and closed the decade old gates to the fort for the final time, a task she has done at 4pm for more than three decades: "more than half my life."

"I call Rinty the castle dog because at 4pm she knows it's walking near the castle time. Now, at 4pm, I'll still take her for a walk but we just won't go to the castle."

So why did the local historian decide to turn down the task she had been dedicated to since 1983?

"It's been an absolutely horrible year," she said. "Normally, every year you get a little group who will pester you when you're leaving and you have to cajole them out, and they taunt and wave as they leave.

"But this year, I refer to one group of youths who range from about eight to 14-years-old, who would give me hassle and threaten me, but I wouldn't let them threaten me."

Another incident which "stuck out" in the former gate-keepers mind was this summer when two women with about six children came to visit the castle close to 4pm, who spoke unpleasantly to Cllr Perfect when she asked them to leave before closing the gates.

The Leader:

"They asked 'Why, we've brought our kids down here to visit now they can't go in?' Next thing, one of the lads got up on the grating and said 'mum, mum, do you think I can break this through?' I said I hope not, there's a 20ft drop below."

Cllr Perfect then recalls the tumult of abuse she received on social media after this incident was posted online, with people claiming it was "disgusting" the gates had to be closed.

"It set off a wave on Facebook, and I gave up. I thought, I could do something better than this at 4pm. I have a life. I contacted CADW and they were shocked at first, they thought I'd be in a wheelchair in my old age locking the gates," she said.

Cllr Perfect made this decision in July, and has not regretted it since. "It's time someone else did the job, so I told CADW they really need a security firm doing it because it's all changed so much over the years. So I thought this year, no. It's totally different, it's a step back. I am really sad."

Thousands of happy memories have been shared at the castle between Cllr Perfect and her two daughters, Adele and Michelle. She remembers turning up at the castle when "Michelle was in a brand new pram" and thought to herself how interesting the castle was. "That little interest soon turned into an obsession," she said.

She also remembers her predecessor, gatekeeper Len who sat in a box watching the castle, and her girls when they were small would shout 'Len in the box, Len in the box!' when they visited.

Cllr Perfect said Sunday, September 30, was a "big milestone," but added: "I could never abandon the building. It's been a large part of my life for 35 years. I will still be doing the guided tours and I'll still go down there. I won't turn my back on the castle, I just won't open and lock it every day."