WARTIME WEEKEND

At BARRY WATERFRONT AND BARRY ISLAND STATION on 16 AND 17 JUNE 2012

The Barry at War Heritage Group has joined forces with Cardiff Transport Preservation Group, Barry Heritage Railway and a number of other interested parties, to plan a unique event for June 2012.

This summer sees the 70^th anniversary of the arrival of the first American troops in the Vale of Glamorgan during WW2. They were stationed in places such as St Donat’s Castle (once owned by American newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst), the local towns of Wenvoe and Penarth, as well as on several sites in the county town of Barry.

To commemorate this anniversary, a group of local re-enactors and historians intend to dedicate a memorial to these men in a civic ceremony in Barry on Friday 15 June 2012.

The American Embassy in London has been contacted and the First Minister for Wales has been invited to attend, along with various representatives of the Welsh Government, and the event has the support of the two local Assembly Members, Jane Hutt and Vaughan Gething.

This will be followed by a weekend of activities sited around the Barry Heritage Railway station and Barry Island Station.

Local historian and headteacher Dr Jonathan Hicks said, “We will also be staging a living history event at the Barry Heritage Railway sites on the weekend of 16 and 17 June 2012, which will see scores of Allied military re-enactors setting up an authentic WW2 American camp and staging displays. Barry Island Station will be transformed into a 1940s station, complete with wartime police and the Home Guard, to portray the Barry Home Front. A wartime housewife will teach people how to ‘make do and mend’, a skill so essential during wartime. Other educational living history displays will be housed at the station, along with an exhibition on the area during the Second World War.

“There will be steam train rides from the Waterfront Halt to Barry Island and regular vintage bus service between the two sites as well, supplied by Cardiff Transport Preservation Group. Barry Docks was a major supply port in the build up to D-Day and we want to recreate the atmosphere of these days as closely as we can. There will be 1940s-style live entertainment and a live radio broadcast.

“The children from ten local primary schools in Barry and Penarth are to play the role of wartime evacuees. Dressed in 40s costumes, they will board a steam train from Barry Waterfront and be ‘evacuated’ to Barry Island Station where they will be given refreshments and view the various events due to take place on Barry Island Station before being transported back to their parents.”

Re-enactor Ade Pitman of the Barry at War Group said, “We felt as a group that it was time to recall the service of these brave men and women who came across the Atlantic to help us in our fight against Nazi Germany. Many of them did not survive the war to return to the country of their birth. They had a huge impact on the people of the area and its economy.

“The Vale of Glamorgan Council Events Team are fully supportive of this project and I hope that it can extend across the county so that the week of the event can have a 40s theme which can be supported by local business and retailers.

“The event is sure to attract thousands of visitors. Barry has never staged a WW2 re-enactment event on this scale.

“We intend to have a WW2 American military convoy pass through the area on the Friday afternoon which would be an amazing sight after 70 years.”

WW2 period vehicle owners who would like to take part are welcome to contact Event Co-ordinator Ade Pitman on 07930874161.

You can also watch this exciting project develop at the Barry at War website at: www.barryatwar.info or at the group’s Facebook page.