Flintshire community marking centenary First World War memorial ceremony

On the March 27, 1921, the people of Sychdyn held a ceremony to which their war memorial was dedicated.

The village then had fewer than 500 residents and the community had lost 17 young men in the First World War.

The ceremony in 1921.

They held a service in the village hall, followed by a procession with the band to the memorial, where there was a further moving ceremony when all the names on the memorial were read out.

A local committee had raised the money to build the memorial - which took the form of an arched gateway with the names of the fallen on marble on either side of the gate.

The gate led into a recreation area which became the village's bowling green.

The Sychdyn war memorial.

March 27, 2021, marks the 100th anniversary of that dedication ceremony and residents of the village wanted to mark the occasion.

The original idea was to have a reenactment of that special day a hundred years ago, but current Covid restrictions mean that isn't possible.

But people in the village were determined to mark the anniversary and began to put their minds to what they could do so that the special date could be acknowledged.

It was decided that the emblem for the day would be daffodils. People donated bags of daffodil bulbs and a group of socially distanced volunteers planted bulbs on either side of the memorial in the hope that they would be in flower by the March 27.

Volunteers plant bulbs on either side of the memorial.

Daffodil brooches were also made, being either knitted or crocheted and sold for donations for the Royal British Legion, and work began on producing daffodil themed bunting.

Some of the knitted daffodils.

A map of the village on which the homes of those named on the memorial were marked has been made. These were printed, laminated and donated to the project, and also were sold for donations to the Royal British Legion.

A class set was given to the local school, Ysgol Sychdyn, and teacher Cheryl Barry will be using them with her class when they return to school.

To date, £1,000 has been raised for the Royal British Legion in generous donations from the people of Sychdyn.

There will be a symbolic service at the memorial on the March 27, which will include a small gathering of ten representative people who will be led in a rededication service by The Rev Daniel Stroud.

Sychdyn resident Vivian Williams, contributor to the Flintshire War Memorials website, said: "It isn't going to be the big event that was envisaged but it hasn't half been a great lockdown project and means we will remember them.

"I just want to say a bug thanks to the people of Sychdyn."