WREXHAM was awash with caps and gowns at the weekend when the town’s university formally celebrated its newly acquired status.

More than 100 academics and dignitaries with links to Glyndwr University, as well as staff and members of the Students’ Guild, processed through the town centre on Saturday to mark the inauguration of the university and installation of the chancellor, the Rt Hon The Lord Barry Jones PC, and the vice chancellor, Professor Michael Scott.

Prof Scott said: “The installation of a chancellor is a traditional ceremony performed by universities all over the world and marks the final step for us on the road to becoming a university.

“The ceremony was a celebration of the establishment of Glyndwr University, a university for the people of Wrexham – the university which they’ve been waiting for 120 years.”

The procession started at 11.30am from St Mary’s Cathedral Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, led by the Band of the Mercian Regiment and arrived at the Parish Church of St Giles at 11.50am.

During the ceremony the university was presented with its new coat of arms, before the congregation listened to readings from guest speakers, along with music performed by the St Asaph Cathedral Choir and Wrexham Brass Glyndwr, baritone Jeremy Huw Williams and organist Mervyn Cousins.

Award-winning composer Owain LLwyd was commissioned to write four Glyndwr brass band fanfares ahead of the ceremony. The pieces – named Awakening, Progression, Unity and Vision – reflect on Owain Glyndwr’s dream for Wales as a nation, governing itself with its own institutions and universities.