Covid: Remembrance Sunday marked in 'extraordinary' way

Remembrance Sunday is being marked across Wales, but very differently because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Lockdown rules allow commemorations to take place outside, with a maximum of 30 people attending.

Some areas of Wales replaced their formal ceremony or service with a video equivalent or individual wreath laying.

Wales' firebreak meant the Royal British Legion had to change how it sold poppies this year.

For the first time in the 99-year history of the appeal, there were no volunteers selling them and street collections were scrapped with people still able to buy them at supermarkets.

The national service of remembrance in Cardiff went ahead with a small number of invited guests present, and was broadcast online by Cardiff council.

Invitation-only events took place in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Llangefni, Anglesey, and Wrexham, among others.

But other towns, including Conwy, opted not to hold any public commemoration at 11:00 GMT on Sunday. Instead, a video version of the wreath-laying were broadcast online.

At Aberystwyth, members of the Royal British Legion, veterans and local organisations observed the two-minute silence at the war memorial, with the annual event scaled back to follow Covid-19 rules.

Paul Hinge, from the legion's Aberystwyth branch, said it was "significantly different" this year.

"Normally we would be having a parade where we'd have anywhere upwards of a thousand people marching," he said.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said it has been "an extraordinary year" and Remembrance Sunday would be "extraordinary as well".

"We're making another huge national effort to deal with the difficulty that we face together," he said.

"In a way that allows us to reflect on things that others have done in earlier times that make it even more relevant to us today."

The Welsh Conservatives had called for people to "mark the occasion in our own way" as services as cancelled because of Covid.

"Many people here in Wales will have their own memories," said Paul Davies MS, their leader in the Senedd.

"And while our collective Remembrance parades and services will not take place as before, it offers us the chance for quiet, individual reflection."

Plaid Cymru said this Remembrance Sunday would "be a particularly poignant one" as the "pandemic has reminded all too many of us of the fragility of life".

"As we came together on our doorsteps at the start of the pandemic to thank those who fought to keep us safe from harm from the virus, many of us will join together on Remembrance Sunday to remember and show support for those who have fought in conflict," said Plaid leader Adam Price MS.

Cardiff council leader Huw Thomas said the city would "collectively pay our respects to all those that have served and lost their lives in both current and past conflicts" without mass gatherings.

It was a reminder of the "staff, nurses and doctors that are fighting on the front line against the virus in hospitals across the country," he added.

In Wrexham, the life-size silhouettes of two soldiers will stand guard at the entrance to a care organisation as a special tribute to two veterans who died last year.

D-Day veteran Dennis Young, who was injured twice during the pivotal campaign, and Spitfire mechanic Ernest Simmonds, were both residents of Pendine Park in Wrexham.

Fellow veteran Bill Evans, who died in 2018, more than 70 years after he fought his way through Europe and helped liberate Brussels, will also be remembered in the commemoration by artist Sarah Edwards.

Ms Edwards said: "Our residents are always keen to honour the brave heroes who put their lives on the line, with far too many of them paying the ultimate sacrifice."

Former Shotton Paper forklift truck driver Tony Ithell, who suffered a stroke in 2014 which left him needing round-the-clock care, helped to paint the soldier silhouettes.

"It's a shame we can't go outside, but we will have our own Remembrance Day and think about all those that died," he said.

In Conwy, blind veteran John Nicol who previously marched at the Cenotaph in London and had been due to do so again, took part in a virtual "listen and join in" party with Blind Veterans UK.

"I'm very sad that I can't march this year with all the other veterans. I always look forward to it," he said.

Tony Price, 64, from Cardiff, served with the Welsh Guards in the Falklands and Northern Ireland.

"I miss meeting up with the boys that I served with," he said.

"It's an emotional thing, especially when you hear The Last Post and the hairs stand up at the back of your head.

"Friendship is a big thing, especially when you've served 22 years, you know a lot of people. It's never the same when you're in civvy street. The friendship is not the same."