MAY 6 might have been the day of the King’s coronation, but it was also the monthly Ruthin Repair Café at the Naylor Leyland Centre.

Residents streamed into the centre, where a variety of craft specialists were hard at work with sewing machines, electrical equipment and tools at the benches around them.

Amongst the volunteer electricians, sewers, software technicians, guitar and woodwind repairers, authors and cake makers was the painter, sculptor, silversmith, jeweller and maker of two Eisteddfod crowns, Andrew Coomber.

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The May Repair Café saw 29 items processed, including an Atlas globe lamp, two soup makers, an old bicycle foot pump, an amplifier and a vintage pruning saw.

The fix rate was a respectable 79 per cent, including six items that were taken to be completed at home by dedicated “fixperts”.

While a king was being crowned 200 miles away in Westminster Abbey, Mr Coomber was reflecting on another crown-making event that took place 10 years previously.

In 2013, he had been busy creating the crown for the Denbigh National Eisteddfod crown, which he designed and crafted, assisted by final year students from the Applied Arts Degree at Wrexham Glyndwr University, and with sponsorship from the Farmers Union of Wales (FUW).

Denbighshire Free Press: The Urdd crown in 2016.The Urdd crown in 2016. (Image: Ruthin Repair Cafe)

The design of the crown was inspired by Moel Famau and the Clwydian hills, using their sinuous lines and the changes from high hill to lower agricultural landscape in a process which involved both artistic and engineering skills.

He said: “To be given the opportunity to make an object that celebrated what I’m interested in, and celebrating excellence in another field of the creative arts was perfect for me.”

The inner part of the crown took a four-part journey through the seasons on Moel Famau.

It was made of anodised aluminium, which had a porous surface that allowed paint to soak in, and so creating a water colour effect.

Forged hammered silver created an external structure to represent the flowing outline of the hills.

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Mr Coomber was again asked to make the crown for the Urdd Eisteddfod in Flint in 2016, and wanted to create something more youth-orientated and futuristic.

This time, his design used imagery inspired by the new Flint bridge, the Dee estuary and the area’s modern industry.

He used laser cut and engraved acrylic and stainless steel and enamelled silver.

Both works of art have become part of the crown jewels of Eisteddfod history.

Mr Coomber can be found at the next Repair Café, which as usual is at the Naylor Leyland Centre on the first Saturday of the month, from 10am to 1pm, with the last item booked in at 12.30pm. It is a drop-in event, and repairs are free.