150 Residents Pay Respects at Council’s Armistice Commemoration
Glyntraian Community Council led a series of events to mark the Armistice centenary in Pontfadog on Remembrance Sunday.
A Battle’s Over Beacon, funded by the Council, was lit at 7pm as part of a nation-wide event that saw well over 1,000 beacons lit all over the country in commemoration.
An estimated 150 members of the community attended the commemorative event. The honour of lighting the Beacon was given to 89-year-old Dick Squires, one of the oldest residents of Pontfadog and a British Army veteran.
The Beacon lighting was preceded by a haunting rendition of the Last Post played by 14-year-old Tom Maries from Pontfadog. Glyntraian Community Council Chairman, Cllr Chris Futcher, read aloud of the names of the nine local men who fell in the Great War.
Following the moving tribute, a peal of bells rang out from St John the Baptist Church in the village whilst Bethan Jones, Jan Bennet and Cllr Robin Boston read poems in Welsh and English by the Welsh Bardic poet, Hedd Wynn, and In Flanders Fields by John McCrae.
Cllr Futcher said: “It was especially heart-warming to witness all ages, from babies right through to some of the oldest members of the community, coming together to pay their respects to those local men who made the ultimate sacrifice in that most brutal of conflicts.
“The Council’s thanks go to all those who took part in the formal proceedings. Warmest thanks are also extended to the Trustees of the Glyn Valley Tramway Trust for generously granting us use of the historic tramway waiting room to host an exhibition of WWI memorabilia, much of it local and particularly poignant.
“Cllrs Robin Boston and Graham Barrow worked extremely hard to curate the items.
We are especially pleased that so many people visited the exhibition and were delighted by it. Yet more thanks go to all those who kindly loaned items of interest from or relating to family members – from official papers, photos, press cuttings and postcards to medals and notebooks. The authentic WWI German militaria generously loaned by Tom Gulliver, including the embossed WW1 German/Prussian Pickelhaube (pickel helmet), dagger, rucksack and infantryman’s tunic drew much interest. They provided a powerful reminder that the Armistice centenary commemoration was about remembering all those who lost their lives, as well as the men from our own community.”
The exhibition will be open again on Saturday 17th November between 10 – 3pm at the Glyn Valley Tramway Waiting Room, Pontfadog.
