Yesterday I called into the Carnegie Hall in Skewen to visit the Skewen and District Historical Society World War One Heritage Day.
This is a very successful society who are currently collecting as much source material as possible to produce a book on the men and women from Skewen who contributed to the 1914-1918 war effort.
The village of Skewen around that time had a population of roughly 9,000 people. I was told yesterday that the society has so far been able to identify 370 men who volunteered for active servive. At least 70 of these did not return. They do not think that there was a 'pals' unit but most would have joined one of the Welsh regiments.
There is also interest in those who stayed behind and contributed to the war effort in other ways. The display had many medals and other items lent to the society by the families of these individuals.
What did surprise me was the fact that there is no World War One memorial in Skewen. There is a memorial for those who lost their lives in the second world war in the grounds of the Carnegie Hall but this specifically excludes the earlier conflict.
As an aside I was told that one of the history society officials was approached by a man who pointed out his name on the Skewen war memorial. Clearly he had been included in error.
The lack of a World War One memorial in Skewen is a major omission in my view. Officers of the society told me that they are considering campaigning for one. I hope they do. I will certainly support them.
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