A LLANUWCHLLYN peace group has received a national award after highlighting the futility of war.

At the recent Peace Heroes Awards, held in Caernarfon last week, the Peace Project group from Aelwyd Penllyn won in the ‘Digital Peace Builder of the Year’ category after creating a series of pro-peace installations exploring the horror of the Great War.

Branwen Haf, leader of Aelwyd Penllyn said: “We are over the moon that we have won this award, which is testament to the young people’s hard work and commitment at the Aelwyd.

“As a group at Aelwyd Penllyn, we had a strong interest in the feelings that arose in the wake of events commemorating one hundred years since the beginning of the First World War.

“We had the opportunity to listen to Beryl Griffiths from Llanuwchllyn speak about two local boys who went to fight in the war, and hearing their stories really affected us.

“The group really went under the skin of the stories, using the information to emphasise the peace message.

“The young people reacted to Beryl’s stories during a special day of creativity, the result of which is a mural (now on a wall at Glan-llyn), creative writing pieces (which can be seen at Llanuwchllyn school house), and musical compositions, all on various aspects of the history but encapsulating how wasteful wars were, and are.

“With the help of SSP Media, they then went on to film much of the creative content, all of which can be seen on the Aelwyd Penllyn YouTube channel.

“The project would not have been possible without the financial support that was received from the Craig Project under the sponsorship of the Denbigh, Flint and Meirionneth Baptist churches, and we thank them for their support.”

The Peace Heroes Awards are organised by the Wales for Peace project, which is part of the Welsh Centre for International Affairs, and receives financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The project’s vision is to inspire a new generation of internationalists through learning from Wales’ peace heritage, the individuals, communities and movements who have championed Wales’ peace-building role in the world, from the First World War to today.