A chance enquiry by a tourist as to the whereabouts of the St.Dogmaels War Memorial, sparked a two year campaign to raise sufficient funds to build a fitting external tribute to the fallen of the parish that was unveiled last Monday morning on Armistice Day, November 11th at the 11th hour.

Financially supported by a £10,000 award by the Heritage Lottery Fund as well as some land from Pembrokeshire County Council, the War Memorial was unveiled by Lt. Gen Jonathan Riley D.S.O, a patron of the War Memorial Committee.

As the Drum Major from the Royal Welsh Fusiliers sounded the last post, displaying the colours of his regiment for the very last time on parade, many reflected on the poignancy of the day. Mr Ian Gollop read each name with dignity as the children of the village placed their crosses for each of the men.

The recipient of the initial memorial query was local man, Arthur Walters who was volunteering at the time in the Coach House Visitor Centre.

‘ Regretfully he informed the visitor that there was no external memorial in the village as the original, located at Halkett Square, had been accidentally demolished by a vehicle and had never been replaced,’ said Nia Siggins of Hanes Llandoch.

She added: ‘Arthur felt keenly that this should be remedied and engaged in an initial investigation to see if there was support for the idea amongst the community of St.Dogmaels. The response was overwhelming and The War Memorial Planning Committee convened under the umbrella of local charity Hanes Llandoch with Arthur Walters at the helm.’

The fund raising process then began in earnest. Barry Foster, the late Peter Antwis and the late B.V. Rees had undertaken a lot of research into the names of the fallen and raised funds to erect the plaques in the Memorial Hall.

‘ This was the starting point for our research process which revealed a further 29 names for inclusion on the new War Memorial. This brought the total of fallen heroes from St. Dogmaels to 80, a remarkable sacrifice for a rural village. Many of these men were lost whilst serving in the Merchant Navy and The Royal Navy, reflecting the long seafaring tradition of the village,’ concluded Nia.