Post by Administrator on Jun 5, 2013 18:28:32 GMT
A WELSH SEASIDE TOWN AT WAR:
By Alun Robertson
Monday August 3rd, 1914, the last day of peace, was a bank holiday. On that warm sunny day an estimated 50,000 day trippers from Cardiff and the mining towns and villages of the Welsh valleys flocked to Barry Island. To most of these people the thought of war would be pushed to the back of their minds as they picnicked on the grass, strolled along the beach or bathed in the sea. The main attraction that day was a grand brass band competition on Nell's Point (the strip of land wihere the Barry Island Resort now stands). The best bands in Wales performed that day. In the Channel the steamers of the White Funnel Fleet could be seen packed with people bound for a day out at Weston or Ilfracombe, people who normally lived mundane lives were out to enjoy themselves that day. Before the week was out, all this would change. Instead of courting couples and people enjoying the brass bands, Nells point would be inhabited by soldiers manning the six inch guns of the Barry Fort (the fort situatedon the tip of Nell's Point controlled a vital area of the Channel). The shouts of children playing on the sands at Whitmore Bay would be replaced by the crack of rifle fire as a musketry range would be set up there. The White Funnel Fleet steamers would disappear from the Channel and a huge searchlight would sweep the sea at night. The holiday season would finish early in 1914.
By the close of 1914 many Barry men had seen action on the continent and across the sea lanes of the world. These men were, of course, the regulars, reservists and merchant seamen of the town. The firat reported local fatality was that of Royal navy reservist W.Cowling, a married man from Graving Dock Street. He was killed in action serving aboard the cruiser HMS 'Hawk' which was torpedoed in the North Sea on 15th October, 1914.When HMS 'Monmouth' was sunk with all hands on 1st November ai the Battle of Coronel, she took with her five Barry men. The first street to feel the full effects of the war was Brook Street, a small street situated off the small shopping centre of Holton Road. On 29th October, John Durman, of number 37, a reservist of the 2nd Battaloin Welsh regiment, was killed in action. Just eight days later, Bert Clements, who lived at number 30, was killed while serving in the Grenadier Guards. The saddest story of 1914 concerns the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Whitty of Barry. On 21st. november, Stanley junior died of wounds while serving with the 2nd Welsh. On Boxing Day his brother John was killed while serving with the Grenadier Guards, and a third brother was invalided home from the front at the end of the year. The war was just a few months old and already one family had given it all it could. This was a sign of things to come.
LINK: www.powell76.talktalk.net/Awelshseasidetown.htm
By Alun Robertson
Monday August 3rd, 1914, the last day of peace, was a bank holiday. On that warm sunny day an estimated 50,000 day trippers from Cardiff and the mining towns and villages of the Welsh valleys flocked to Barry Island. To most of these people the thought of war would be pushed to the back of their minds as they picnicked on the grass, strolled along the beach or bathed in the sea. The main attraction that day was a grand brass band competition on Nell's Point (the strip of land wihere the Barry Island Resort now stands). The best bands in Wales performed that day. In the Channel the steamers of the White Funnel Fleet could be seen packed with people bound for a day out at Weston or Ilfracombe, people who normally lived mundane lives were out to enjoy themselves that day. Before the week was out, all this would change. Instead of courting couples and people enjoying the brass bands, Nells point would be inhabited by soldiers manning the six inch guns of the Barry Fort (the fort situatedon the tip of Nell's Point controlled a vital area of the Channel). The shouts of children playing on the sands at Whitmore Bay would be replaced by the crack of rifle fire as a musketry range would be set up there. The White Funnel Fleet steamers would disappear from the Channel and a huge searchlight would sweep the sea at night. The holiday season would finish early in 1914.
By the close of 1914 many Barry men had seen action on the continent and across the sea lanes of the world. These men were, of course, the regulars, reservists and merchant seamen of the town. The firat reported local fatality was that of Royal navy reservist W.Cowling, a married man from Graving Dock Street. He was killed in action serving aboard the cruiser HMS 'Hawk' which was torpedoed in the North Sea on 15th October, 1914.When HMS 'Monmouth' was sunk with all hands on 1st November ai the Battle of Coronel, she took with her five Barry men. The first street to feel the full effects of the war was Brook Street, a small street situated off the small shopping centre of Holton Road. On 29th October, John Durman, of number 37, a reservist of the 2nd Battaloin Welsh regiment, was killed in action. Just eight days later, Bert Clements, who lived at number 30, was killed while serving in the Grenadier Guards. The saddest story of 1914 concerns the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Whitty of Barry. On 21st. november, Stanley junior died of wounds while serving with the 2nd Welsh. On Boxing Day his brother John was killed while serving with the Grenadier Guards, and a third brother was invalided home from the front at the end of the year. The war was just a few months old and already one family had given it all it could. This was a sign of things to come.
LINK: www.powell76.talktalk.net/Awelshseasidetown.htm