A SERVICE commemorating the Merchant Navy is to be held in Barry this weekend.

The Seafarers' Service and flag raising, organised by the Merchant Navy Association (Wales) Barry branch, is open to all and will acknowledge the vital role played by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and the Royal Navy, when it is held at Barry's Merchant Navy monument on Saturday, September 3 at 11am.

The importance of the role played by the Merchant Navy was acknowledged in July 1941 by then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who said: “The Merchant Navy, with Allied comrades, night and day, in weather fair or foul, faces not only the ordinary perils on the sea, but the sudden assaults of war from beneath the waters or from the sky.

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“But for the Merchant Navy who bring us the food and munitions of war, Britain would be in a perilous state and ... the Army, Navy, and Air Force could not operate.”

The service will take place at 11am on Saturday, September 3, at Barry's Merchant Navy monument, outside the Vale of Glamorgan council offices.