Llandudno man attempting to find resting places of all 340 men on town’s war memorial

Adrian Hughes, who started the town’s Home Front Museum on New Street in 2000, has been collecting Second World War memorabilia since he was eight years old.

A volunteer for Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Poppy Appeal Organiser for Llandudno, Adrian will also be projecting the images of all of Llandudno’s fallen onto the wall of the old Marks and Spencer on Mostyn Street from 5-7pm on November 11 (Armistice Day) and 12.

With plans to visit Israel in December, and Iraq, Libya and Myanmar further down the line, Adrian’s latest trips, to Greece and Macedonia, took the total he has found to 194.

Of the 340 names on the memorial, 218 died during the First World War and 122 died during the Second World War.

A gravestone Adrian has found during his searches (Image: Adrian Hughes)

He said: “I flew into Athens, where three Llandudno lads are commemorated on the Athens memorial to the missing.

“From Athens, I drove seven hours to the battlefields north of Thessaloniki on the border of Macedonia, North Macedonia and Bulgaria.

“The soldiers here were part of the ‘Forgotten Army’ and the weather was as much as a battle as the Bulgarian army who had invaded Macedonia in October 1914, leading the French and British to send troops to the area.

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“At Sarigol Military Cemetery, I laid a wreath on behalf of the family of Serjeant John Owen Thompson, who died of wounds in June 1918. He was the son of GR Thompson, the self-styled ‘Postcard King of Llandudno’.

“At Karasouli Military Cemetery, I laid another wreath on behalf of the family of Sapper William Thomas Kyffin, who was serving with the Royal Engineers.

“He accidentally drowned while swimming in a river and it is believed that his legs got caught up in dense vegetation from which he was unable to escape.

“Another memorable trip was to the Norwegian Arctic Circle to pay respects at the grave of Gunner Bobby Martin, born and educated in Llandudno, attending Dyffryn Road and Central schools.

“On leaving school, he was employed by Llandudno Urban District Council and volunteered for the army in July 1939. The 21-year-old was married with an infant child.

“In March 2020, I visited the tiny hamlet of Evenes in northern Norway to lay a wreath and pay respects to the Llandudno lad.”

Another member of Llandudno's fallen whose grave Adrian has found (Image: Adrian Hughes)

Adrian’s research has led him to meet many families of the fallen and conversely, families have approached him for information about their relatives.

On such occasions, Adrian has been able to give them photographs of loved ones that they had not previously seen - one case saw reunite a medal of William Hart, who died in Italy in 1918, with his family.

Llandudno's Remembrance Sunday (November 13) plans are as follows:

• 9.25am - Assembly in Trinity Square, prior to entry into the Church of the Holy Trinity, and seats should be occupied by 9.35
• 9.45am - Service of Remembrance at the Church of the Holy Trinity followed by a service at the war memorial
• 10.20am - Parade to assemble in Trinity Square, under the command of the Parade Marshal
• 10.35am - Parade will move off turning left onto Mostyn Street and onto the Promenade via St. Georges Plaice, turning left in the direction of the war memorial where the parade will be guided to form a hollow square facing the memorial
• 10.55am - Assembly and short address by the Royal British Legion
• 11.00 am Two minutes’ silence and a sounding of The Last Post
• Representative of the Royal British Legion, Llandudno Branch will recite the following: "They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old, age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, We will remember them”.
• Crowd response - "We will remember them"
• "The Legion of the Living salutes the Legion of the Dead"
• Crowd response - "We will not break faith with ye"
• Then the laying of the wreaths will commence, followed by the National Anthems
• 11.30am - Parade will reform on the Promenade (with the exception of the Mayoral party and Councillors who will return directly to the Town Hall) and proceed via Prince Edward Square, and Mostyn Street into Lloyd Street where the salute will be taken by the Mayor and President of the Royal British Legion as it passes the Town Hall
• The parade will proceed along Madoc Street and Augusta Street into Vaughan Street when it will be dismissed outside the Ex-Servicemen’s & Friends Club.