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Star Wars: Pembroke Dock exhibition celebrates movie links

BBC Millennium FalconBBC
The finished Millennium Falcon during filming for The Empire Strikes Back in 1979

The role a Welsh town played in creating Star Wars' spaceship, the Millennium Falcon, is to be made into a permanent exhibition.

Luckily, fans of the franchise will only have to venture to Pembrokeshire, rather than a galaxy far, far away.

Work to construct a hush-hush life-size model in Pembroke Dock in 1979 actually became the town's "worst kept secret".

Pembroke Dock Heritage Trust has just landed a bounty to share the saga of the town's links with the films.

The model was built by workers from an engineering firm in a World War Two aircraft hangar.

It was supposed to have taken place under a veil of secrecy, with the construction project given its own code name, The Magic Roundabout.

"It was the worst kept secret in Pembroke Dock," said Gareth Mills, a trustee from Pembroke Dock Heritage Trust.

"Everybody in the town knew they were building a UFO in the hangar and that period of time and that story is an important part of the town's living memory."

Millennium Falcon
The life-size model was built in Pembroke Dock in 1979 before being shipped to movie studios

The giant prop took three months to build before being transported to Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, where The Empire Strikes Back was filmed.

It was a box office smash around the world when the movie was released in 1980.

Star Wars enthusiast Mark Williams, who will oversee the heritage project, said: "George Lucas set a new standard in both storytelling and filmmaking with Star Wars and the story of the Millennium Falcon being built in Pembroke Dock was big news at the time.

"The whole world knew about it, then the story faded into legend."

Millennium Falcon
Old photographs of the Millennium Falcon construction project will feature in the new exhibition

An £8,000 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund will go towards creating a permanent display at Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre.

It will include a walk-through display with photographs, film, props and costumes, amid plans to widen the exhibition in the future.

"I love that such an iconic, beloved ship was built in the town where my mum was born and in the county where I grew up," said Lynwen Brennan, Lucasfilm executive vice-president.

"And I'm hopeful this exhibit will become a new destination for fans around the world."

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