Article

There will be traditional Remembrance Sunday parades in the town centres of Neath and Port Talbot organised by Neath Port Talbot Council and in Pontardawe this year there will be a Remembrance Sunday service at the town’s St Peter’s Church.

Remembrance ceremonies will also be held in various locations across the county borough by town and community councils and voluntary organisations.

The Mayor of Neath Port Talbot’s Armed Forces Concert will get under way at the Princess Royal Theatre, Port Talbot, on Friday, October 25th (7pm).

The popular event will be hosted by Mal Pope and there will be appearances from the Valley Rock Voices Choir, the 334 (Neath) Squadron of the RAF Air Cadets Band, rising singing star from Mumbles Madlen Forwood, the City of Swansea Pipe Band and the Royal British Legion Llanelli Band.

Saturday, October 26th will see the Armed Forces Festival Day in Port Talbot’s Aberafan Shopping Centre (until 5pm) which will involve the launch of the local Poppy Appeal and the dedication of the Garden of Remembrance.

There will also be a flag raising ceremony, information stalls and displays of military vehicles.

The events on October 25th and October 26th have received funding from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Councillor Wyndham Griffiths, one of Neath Port Talbot Council’s Armed Forces Champions – and a former serviceman – emphasised the council’s commitment to supporting the local armed forces community.

He said: “Although it has long supported Remembrance Events through the Mayor’s Office, the council’s recently acquired role as official Event Organiser reinforces its dedication to remembering the sacrifices made by those who have defended our freedom and way of life with their lives.”

Fellow Armed Forces Champion, Cllr Tim Bowen, said: “This council has a long record of supporting the armed forces community locally having signed up to the Armed Forces Covenant under which it has pledged to acknowledge and understand that those who serve or who have served in the armed forces, and their families, should be treated with fairness and respect in the communities they served in their Armed Forces roles.”