A POPULAR community man and newsagent in Abergavenny who commemorated Captain Sir Tom Moore with a mural has spoken of the impact of his passing, and his unlikely affiliation with the town which grew from the pandemic.

Last April Paul Cable, who has run newsagents Cable News in Frogmore Street for more than 32 years, was so impressed by the fundraising efforts of Captain Tom that he decided to create a personal commemoration.

“As you can imagine, with the job I’ve always got my head in the paper, and I quickly felt like I got to know Captain Tom,” Mr Cable recalled.

“At the time not much was known about him, but I went to bed with this image of this brilliant Captain Tom in my head.

“I woke up at half three in the morning and felt a sudden urge to do it [the mural], and I didn’t look back.

“I didn’t even ask Casa Bianca [which owns the building now emblazoned with the mural beside one of Dame Vera Lynn], I just got on with it.”

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Last year Captain Tom raised £33 million for NHS Charities Together, completing 25-metre lengths of his garden over several days.

Of this, £230,000 has gone to the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, which will be spent on improving the wellbeing of patients and staff, among other things.

And Mr Cable’s mural, he says, will “remain forever” as a reminder of what Captain Tom did for every community across the UK.

“People might wonder why it’s here, but I think it’s quite obvious,” Mr Cable said.

“It adds to the town, shows what a lovely and quirky place we are, and also shows we share those values that Captain Tom tried to instil in all of us - that sense of community above all else.”

Mr Cable is not done yet. Alongside Captain Tom and Dame Vera will be a 15 feet high mural of Aneurin Bevan, to serve as another reminder of how fortunate Gwent is to have such a brilliant NHS.

After adding dates of birth and death to Captain Tom’s mural, Mr Cable said he was surprised and pleased to see people laying flowers below the artwork.

“It was surprising, but again shows what a brilliant place Abergavenny is,” he added.