VE Day remembrance event paid tribute with style and dignity

It was Llanelli’s turn to pay tribute to the 70th Anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. It did so with pomp, style and dignity as hundreds flocked to St. Elli Parish Church.
Hosted by the Llanelli Choral Society and under the much loved musical leadership of John Hywel and Jean Hywel, members of the armed forces, veterans, dignitaries and the public gathered for the town’s commemoration of VE Day.
This was no remembrance concert but an experience which stimulated the memories and the emotions as the event saw proud veterans from WW2 join in song and commemoration with a host of the town’s artists.
The church was theatrically presented in tribute with smoke and lights. Candles burned throughout the historic spiritual heart of the town as the oversubscribed event saw the Church stretch to accommodate the excited audience.
Artists included the Llanelli Choral Society, the Hywel Girls’ Choir & Hywel Boy Singers, soprano Gwawr Edwards, symphony percussionists Gareth Hamlin and Alun Hathaway, trumpeter Rob Johnston, organist Clive Phillips and led by Llanelli’s musical leadership of John Hywel and Jean Hywel.
A well thought programmes of music, ambient sound and narration ranged from the powerful and dramatic to the sensitive and emotional. This was a night of strong patriotism, poignant reflection, inspirational music and emotional remembrance with a poignant opening procession and marches from veterans and representatives from the WW2 generation. The pride and adoration for these veterans was thick in the air and emotions and tears ran freely.
Musical highlights by the artists included an emotive Abide with Me, Hymn to the Fallen, Onward Christian Soldiers, White Cliffs of Dover, We’ll Meet Again and a massed choir rendition of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus.
Six candles of conflict – each reflecting the millions of lives lost across the six years of the war – were extinguished by members of the public, the Llanelli Choral Society and the Hywel Choir. Each song was dedicated to relatives who fought in WW2.
This was a night to celebrate and pay tribute to the end of tragedy.

Despite the euphoria of the night with its the joy and standing ovations, sadly and ironically this night of remembrance will be remembered for the wrong reasons.

The incredulous and tragic road death of the much-loved Jean Hywel on leaving the concert will haunt the event and the town.
The last song she played with her beloved young Hywel choristers after accompanying them for over 50 years was their iconic and inspiring Climb Ev’ry Mountain and her very final accompaniment at the piano which she loved was, perhaps fittingly, the Welsh national anthem.
A night which reached great heights of elation and ovation sadly plunged to devastation within mere minutes and yards away.

Rest in Peace, Jean Hywel.