40th Anniversary of the Falklands Conflict.

Risca Branch the Royal British Legion, commemoration, 40th Anniversary of the Falklands Conflict. Moriah Church, Risca, Friday June 10th

Photography - Rachel Meredith

On Friday 10th June, RMC were proud to have been invited to take part in the Service and Commemoration for the 40th Anniversary of the Falklands Conflict. It was held at the Moriah Baptist Church Risca.

The event was to celebrate and remember those who had been part of and sadly paid the ultimate sacrifice, as well as those individuals still struggling with the events of some 40 years ago.

On April 2 1982, Argentine Forces invaded the British overseas territory of the Falkland Islands, then on April 5th the first ships of the British Task Force set sail towards the Falkland Islands. Altogether with members of the Royal Navy, Army, Royal Marines and

Air Force and merchant mariners, some 30,000 British personnel took part in the conflict. The conflict lasted a total of 74 days with the loss of 255 British personnel, seven Royal Navy vessels where lost to enemy action as well as 649 Argentinian personnel and 3 Falkland islanders also lost their lives.

This service was to remember all of the fallen………

The event started with the national anthem of God Save the Queen and also the entrance of the Royal British Legion Standard and the Standard from the army cadets. The Pastor Marc Owen then gave a very warm introduction and welcome to all in attendance.

The service moved on to the reality of what actually happened with a very real and sombre video of actual events to the music of Dire Straits Brothers in Arms.

This then led to two pieces of music from Crosskeys Silver Band, Men of Harlech and also Mid all the traffic.

RMC then stood to sing the first of their pieces which was Calon Lan. It was accompanied by Martin Hodson MBE on the fantastic church organ, and conducted by our very talented and youthful Tomos Gwyn. RMC as always gave a performance to be proud of especially as this was the first time they had sung in a public event since the start of the pandemic, you could hear the pride in the voices of each and every member as the words echoed around the church. This was followed by Anthem (from Chess) accompanied by our very own Alison Thomas and again conducted by Tomos Gwyn. The words of this piece are very poignant, and the appreciation from all those in attendance could be heard at the end of both pieces.

The service was then treated to some younger members of the community in the form of Ty Sign Primary School Junior Choir, who sang two beautiful songs, the first being I’ll remember you followed by One life, One love.

Following on from this was a time of reflection and we saw a further video of two ex-serving Royal Naval personnel who served on board HMS Sheffield which was one of the vessels sunk by Argentinian forces during the conflict. They spoke of the events leading up to and including the moment they had been struck by a missile resulting in the sinking of their ship. It was a very moving story which highlighted the need to remember such events as they themselves still suffer internally from what happened.

Again, Cross Keys silver band performed two more pieces The Spirit Within and Sailing.

It was then the turn of RMC to sing once more. We performed two more pieces the first being Where Shall I be? a spiritual arrangement by Bryan Davies, followed by O Gymru! by Rhys Jones, both pieces were accompanied by Alison Thomas and conducted by Tomos Gwyn. I must say you could feel the pride and enjoyment from all the choristers who sang that day especially as O Gymru! started to come to its conclusion with the rising crescendo. I for one felt very proud to be part of this fine choir.

Congregation Hymns were performed along with the service of remembrance, before RMC performed the very fitting and moving Falklands Hymn written by Howard Moseley and Ralph Allwood. It was accompanied on the organ by Martin and conducted by Tomos Gwyn. The words were displayed on the TV screens around the church for the other members of the service to take part and join in.

Following the Commemoration, there was the sounding of the Last Post, followed by a very well disciplined two minutes silence.

The service came to a conclusion with the National Anthem of Wales and the Benediction.

All in all this was a service that RMC should be proud of being a part of, the singing by every member of the choir was of the highest standard and was sung with pride and passion, being an ex-Royal Naval service man myself and having served with a number of Falkland Veterans this was a very moving event and one that I will take away with not only memories of the events 40 years ago, and those still fighting internal battles, but of the pride and honour of singing with such a professional choir, which has now become an extended family to each and every member. 

We Will Remember Them………..

Ian Meredith -Tenor 1, and RN Veteran