Fan Gyhirych. Photo: Geraint Smith CC-BY-SA-2.0

Mountain rescuers plan to join the Queen’s diamond jubilee celebrations by lighting a beacon – on the Brecon Beacons.

Bridgend-based Western Beacons Mountain Search and Rescue Team will light the fire on Fan Gyhirych as one of more than 2,000 across the UK to mark the monarch’s 60 years on the throne.

The fire, one of about 100 across Wales, will be built and lit by the volunteer team on the evening of Monday, 4 June.

The team said it hopes its position, above the Cray Reservoir, will make the beacon visible throughout the Swansea and Neath Valleys while also being within sight of a beacon set on Pen y Fan to the East, which will be lit by the Air Training Corps.

A spokesperson for the team said “We are privileged and proud to commemorate Queen Elizabeth’s 60 year reign on the throne.

“We believe we are the only mountain rescue team in the UK to actually be building and lighting our own beacon.

“We would like to extend an invitation to local Scout groups and similar bodies to get in touch with the team if they want to join us for this unique evening.”

The Brecon Beacons are believed to be so named because they were used as beacon locations for signalling.

There is a long history of beacon lighting spanning hundreds of years in Britain. Originally a form of communication, they are now used for celebrating events from royal weddings to coronations and jubilees with beacons being lit on village greens, castle battlements, church towers, farms, beaches, front gardens, car parks and mountain tops.

The volunteers of the Western Beacons team carry out searches and rescues in the West of the Brecon Beacons national park and often join the three other mountain rescue teams in callouts to help missing and injured walkers and other outdoor enthusiasts, along with helping police with lower-level searches.

The 725m (2,379ft) summit of Fan Gyhirych lies in the Fforest Fawr south of Sennybridge.