“Beth ydy’r Cymraeg am?” Over the border, that’s how you ask “What’s the Welsh for . . .”. If current sentiments gather any more momentum, you might be hearing it on the streets of Audlem as well. Ben Bentley gets involved in a border skirmish.

Have you heard the joke about the English village that wanted to become part of Wales? The whole nation laughed – and then realised the villagers had a point.

There are worse places to live than Audlem, six miles from Market Drayton. With its leafy canalside setting, it is a typically English chocolate-box village and the type of place most people aspire to live in.

In recent weeks, however, the residents of Audlem have revealed different aspirations. They want to be part of Wales.

Want cheaper prescriptions? Free parking? Better healthcare and maybe a bit more cash in your pocket? Then in an age of credit crunch, it would seem that you’re better off over the border – and if that’s not possible, why not change the border to include English Audlem?

Three quarters of the 2,000-strong population have voted on the village website to become part of Wales, even though they are 10 miles from the nearest ‘Welcome to Wales’ sign.

Villagers say they have admiration for the work of the Welsh Assembly, that is doing more for the people of its country than its counterpart in Westminster is doing for the people of ours.

Bob Cartwright, one of the villagers behind the spoof campaign, says: “We are on the cusp of Shropshire, Cheshire and Staffordshire. We are seven miles from anywhere – why not Wales?

“The idea came in the pub, like most ideas, and it was an April Fool’s joke.”

But he adds: “There is, of course, a serious issue here, and one which the politicians might want to consider. There is a perception in England that despite paying the same taxes, the Welsh, and even more the Scots, are getting a better deal out of their Assembly and Parliament.

“Nobody seems to represent the English – the Welsh and Scots decide their own affairs yet their MPs can also vote on exclusively English issues.”

But are you really better off Welsh? Now that the laughter is dying down a simple shopping list should test the issue.

First on the list – drop by at the local English chemist to pick up a prescription. That’s £7.20 please. In Wales they are free and in Scotland, on the day England put up its charges they reduced theirs to £4.80.

Helen Parker, who works at Williams newsagents in Shropshire Street, is already feeling the pinch of the price hike, having had to pay for three different prescriptions at the same time.

Cost: £21.80. In Wales: nothing.

“I’m a single parent and I have to pay full price, so at the end of the day it does leave me quite short,” she says.

“I don’t have a continuous illness but people who do would be struggling.”

Next on the shopping list – a trip to Leighton Hospital near Crewe.

Parking charges: £3 for the average stay. In Wales: free.

Says Bob: “The increase from April has gone up 50 per cent to £3 for anything over 20 minutes – and who gets anything done in 20 minutes? – and £10 overnight.

“If you are visiting someone twice a day it could cost you a small fortune.”

Shona Shannon, 38, who works in the Coffee House on Shropshire Street, has fallen foul of English parking charges. For four years she would regularly have to take her son Matthew for treatment at the eye infirmary at the hospital.

“Six years ago it was £1 to park and two or three years ago it went up to £2. Recently it’s gone up to £3. I think it’s very harsh for people who have to go to the hospital on a regular basis.”

Want a brand new sports hall? That’ll be £1.5 million please.

“Our big village project is to get a sports facility in the village. I jokingly say that every Welsh village with more than 10 people has got a sports facility.”

Again it’s put down to the support Welsh people get from their own regional government that makes all the difference.

Of all places, Audlem has found support for its campaign from Berwick-upon-Tweed, an English town which recently became part of Scotland.

“We had an application from Berwick-upon-Tweed for a twinning arrangement,” Bob says. “It’s on our parish council meeting agenda, so you never know.”

But all this joking about wanting to be part of Wales has, in a small but significant way, taken Audlem a step closer to being Welsh. The Welsh population has certainly ‘grown’.

“One thing we’ve noticed in all this is how many people from Wales there are here, and how many Welsh-speaking people there are,” says Bob.

“We could rustle up a Welsh singing choir instantly. We are thinking of doing a CD of Welsh songs from an English village.”

Jackie Creber, who works in the Salad Bowl deli in Audlem, was born in Treflach, Wales, and is married to a Welshman. And of course she welcomes the idea of being part of Wales again.

She says: “I would love to be. I’m proud of my Welsh roots and it would be nice if my roots followed me.”

Down the road is Williams newsagents, established by Welshman Ely Williams in 1862. His great-great-granddaughter Judy Evans works here and is also married to a Welshman.

“My husband is delighted, he wants to feel at home. If we cannot move to Wales then Wales can move to us.”

With her tongue firmly in her cheek she talks about the benefits of the English village being part of Wales.

“It will be a legal requirement to teach Welsh in schools and my husband has already offered to assist in changing the road signs to Welsh,” she says.

“We are also looking forward to the Audlem Eisteddfod instead of the local festival.”

Okay, it’s all been a bit of a joke. But the power of comedy has opened a can of worms attracting the full glare of the national media and generating questions in Whitehall.

Bob Cartwright adds: “The point is, I hope English MPs recognise there is an issue. I’m not political, I’m completely triggered by irritation.”

Not for the first time, he breaks out into a big smile and amid all this tomfoolery, you get the feeling that Audlem is already having the last laugh.