As current lockdown restrictions preven traditional church and cenotaph services taking place this year, we will hold our own small Glanwydden/Llangwstenin/Pydew service, to remember those from our locality ‘who did their bit’.

We lost 8 men in World War 1 and at least 2 men never returned from World War 2.  Our own Marge Chapman was in the Air Training Corps and Beryl Nichols was in the Land Army.

There is an exhibition in the Phone Kiosk telling the story of the 10 men who were lost.

We have been very fortunate to secure one of only 3 ‘Silent Soldiers’ from Conwy County Council who strimmed, mowed and made a space available by the stream at the end of Waun Road. It has been planted with flowers (and bulbs) to mark the occasion and warmest thanks go to all those who were involved in the planting.

In line with social distancing, from your own gardens or from Waun Road, plans are as follows:

Time	Details
10.45 am	At the silent soldier, Revd Peter Marshall will lead the village in an ‘act of remembrance’
11.00 am	A 2-minute silence
11.03  am onwards	There will be a laying of a ‘Wreath to Remember the Fallen’ from the valley.  There will also be the opportunity for others to lay a wreath/or cross, if they so wish.
11.10 am approx	Once all the tributes are laid, everyone will come together from their gardens/ doorsteps to clap for our Fallen Heroes, Veterans and Front-line Covid workers.

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Glanwydden, Llangwstenin & Pydew lost 8 men to the First World War, and at least 2 never returned from the Second World War.

These are our fallen from the First World War:

Sapper Ellis Williams
Telegraphist, Royal Engineers

Able Seaman Robert Baron Williams
Hood Battalion, Royal Naval Division

Private Ellis Williams (senior)
Shoeing Smith, Royal Field Artillery

Private Goronwy Evans
Gunner, Royal Garrison Artillery – 117^th Siege Battery

Private Thomas Kyffin Jones
Royal Welsh Fusiliers

Robert Roberts
Rank and regiment unknown

Private James Hennessey Jones
Royal Welsh Fusiliers

William Parry
– of the Red Lion, Bryn Pydew, more info to follow

These are our fallen from the Second World War:

Corporal Thomas Radcliffe

Corporal Thomas Radcliffe was the son of William and Ann Radcliffe. He was born on Anglesey. He joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers in May 1932 and so was an ‘old hand’ in the 1^st battalion by the time of the outbreak of the Second World War. 1^st battalion were part of the British Expeditionary Force evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940 having fought a desperate rear-guard action. Two years later they were shipped off to the Far East, regularly being in the thick of the action. In 1943 Radcliffe was awarded the Military Medal. The citation reads “Over a long period of active operations this NCO has consistently shown supreme disregard of personal danger and qualities of leadership of the highest order”. At the defence of Kohima in May 1944, Corporal Radcliffe was injured and died later of his wounds. He was 32 years old and buried at Kohima War Cemetery.  

His connection with Glanwydden/Llangwstenin is that he married Margaret Jones in the fourth quarter of 1940 and lived for a short time (in his case anyway) at Llwynon, Pen-y-bont Road. Llwynon was the Jones family home and Margaret (known as Mabel). Perhaps someone remembers the Jones family or Mabel?

Roedd y Corporal Thomas Radcliffe yn fab i William ac Ann Radcliffe. Fe’i ganed yn Ynys Môn. Ymunodd â’r Royal Welch Fusiliers ym mis Mai 1932 ac felly roedd yn ‘hen law’ yn y bataliwn 1af erbyn dechrau’r Ail Ryfel Byd. Roedd y bataliwn 1af yn rhan o Llu Alldeithiol Prydain a symudwyd o draethau Dunkirk ym 1940 ar ôl ymladd yn erbyn gweithred enbyd o warchodwyr cefn. Ddwy flynedd yn ddiweddarach cawsant eu cludo i’r Dwyrain Pell, gan fod yn drwchus yn y weithred. Yn 1943 dyfarnwyd y Fedal Filwrol i Radcliffe. Mae’r dyfyniad yn darllen “Dros gyfnod hir o weithrediadau gweithredol mae’r NCO hwn yn gyson wedi dangos diystyrwch goruchaf o berygl personol a rhinweddau arweinyddiaeth o’r radd uchaf”. Yn amddiffyniad Kohima ym mis Mai 1944, anafwyd Corporal Radcliffe a bu farw’n ddiweddarach o’i glwyfau. Roedd yn 32 oed a’i gladdu ym Mynwent Rhyfel Kohima.

Ei gysylltiad â Glanwydden / Llangwstenin yw iddo briodi Margaret Jones ym mhedwerydd chwarter 1940 a byw am gyfnod byr (yn ei achos ef beth bynnag) yn Llwynon, Pen-y-bont Road. Llwynon oedd cartref teulu Jones a Margaret (a elwid yn Mabel). Efallai bod rhywun yn cofio’r teulu Jones neu Mabel?

Private John Edward Weyman

Private John Edward Weyman died at the Battle of El Alamein on 25 October 1942 aged 27. It is believed he was born at Henryd where in 1939 his mother was postmistress. His father, John, died 11 August 1915 at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli while serving with the 6th battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. John senior is listed as being son of Mr and Mrs J. Weyman of Gwern-y-Felin, Henryd.
John Edward married Norah Skelsey in the second quarter of 1942 and they lived at Glasfryn, Pen-y-bont Road. He enlisted in the army in April 1940 and joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment before transferring into the Queen’s Royal Regiment in May 1942. Five months later he was killed in action and has no known grave being commemorated on the Alamein Memorial, Egypt. 

Bu farw’r Preifat John Edward Weyman ym Mrwydr El Alamein ar 25 Hydref 1942 yn 27 oed. Os, ac mae’n fawr os, rwyf wedi cael yr achau yn gywir cafodd ei eni yn Henryd lle ym 1939 roedd ei fam yn bostfeistres. Bu farw ei dad, John, 11 Awst 1915 ym Mae Suvla, Gallipoli wrth wasanaethu gyda 6ed bataliwn y Ffiwsilwyr Brenhinol Cymreig. Rhestrir John senior yn fab i Mr a Mrs J. Weyman o Gwern-y-Felin, Henryd.

Priododd John Edward â Norah Skelsey yn ail chwarter 1942 ac roeddent yn byw yn Glasfryn, Pen-y-bont Road. Ymrestrodd yn y fyddin ym mis Ebrill 1940 ac ymunodd â Chatrawd Frenhinol Swydd Warwick cyn trosglwyddo i Gatrawd Frenhinol y Frenhines ym mis Mai 1942. Bum mis yn ddiweddarach cafodd ei ladd wrth ymladd ac nid oes ganddo fedd hysbys yn cael ei goffáu ar Gofeb Alamein, yr Aifft.

Mavis Jones

Mavis was a three month old baby living at Ffolt, when she tragically caught whooping cough from evacuees and died.

Margaret Chapman

Margaret, who survicved the war, served in London’s Air Training Corps working out trajectories for the guns that protected the capital from Nazi bombing raids – a high risk role that called for a spirited and intelligent person.  Both of which Margaret personified.

Beryl Nicholls

Beryl Nicholls (nee Tomlin), who also survived the war, was born in 1925 and grew up on the south side of Oxford. At the start of the Second World war Beryl was attending school but at age 16 she started work as a telephonist. This she disliked and when the opportunity arose to enroll at Waterperry Horticultural College for Ladies she jumped at the chance. Waterperry College with its large house and gardens had been founded in 1931 by the redoubtable Miss Beatrix Havergill who ran the college till 1971.

In the war years the focus of the college was market gardening and Beryl became part of the Land Army. She received a 2-year education in horticulture which developed into a lifelong love of plants, gardening and nature. The photo portraits of Beryl, by Cecil Beaton (official government photographer – see imperial war, tell of a bright-eyed girl of 18, full of fun, but totally at home getting her hands dirty – characteristics recognisable into her later years, to those who knew her. With her training complete, Beryl got a job at a nursery near Shiplake on Thames where she found lodging with a local couple. The son of the household returned to his parental home at the end of the war. Beryl and David fell in love and were married in 1947.