This year’s Barry at War Weekend has been described as a ‘great success’ with hundreds of local people braving some very wet weather to attend the event’s Saturday morning launch and flag-raising ceremony.
The spirit of the 1940s was abound at the Barry Island Heritage Railway Centre, which was replete with World War 2 equipment, vehicles and re-enactors. The event, led this year by Ian Phillips and Glen Booker, both dressed in period US Army fatigues, is designed to raise awareness of Barry’s role in the conflicts of the 20th Century.
Visitors were able to handle period weapons, browse book stalls and ride on the authentic steam engines of the era. The Barry at War group, who maintain the wartime museum in the heritage centre all year round, set up an ‘Ops Room’ in which visitors could listen to interesting lectures on the role that local people played in both world wars.
There was an Anderson Shelter, a replica field trench and a wartime kitchen also on display alongside numerous photographs of wartime Barry. The event also provided a useful showcase for groups such as the Royal Air Force Association, the RNLI and the British Heart foundation who all set up shop at the station.
Vale MP Alun Cairns, one of many to brave Saturday’s deluge to attend the flag raising ceremony, said, “The community owe thanks to the Barry at War organisers and to John Buxton for hosting this fantastic event at the Heritage Railway Centre. The overhead shelter and indoor rooms were certainly appreciated this year due to the weather.
“The wartime spirit was certainly alive this weekend, with so many local people coming together and celebrating the generation who gave so much to keep us safe and free. I could not help be impressed by the knowledge of local people and by the authenticity of the costumes. There were scenes on the railway platform on Saturday that could have been indistinguishable from 1944.
“If you were unfortunate enough to miss this year’s Wartime Weekend then I recommend a visit to the Barry at War Museum which is open all year round and has recently been updated with new exhibits.”
The Barry at War Museum at the Railway Heritage Centre on Barry Island is open from 2pm to 4pm every Wednesday and on the second Sunday of every month between 11am and 4pm.