A BILINGUAL service has been held to celebrate the 150th anniversary of a historic chapel.

On the same day that bonfires and sparklers crackled across the Llyn Peninsula remembering a foiled plot to blow up the UK parliament, residents in Borth y Gest were commemorating their own piece of history in a more sedate manner.

A crowd gathered at Capel Bethel Borth y Gest on Sunday to celebrate 150 years since the chapel’s inaugural service on the same day in 1867.

“The hymns coming from the chapel today sounded like they did years ago,” a local resident told Tom Brooks, one of the church secretaries in Bethel Borth-y-Gest, at the event.

“Perhaps it was because some of those sung today were written by two famous ministers of Bethel in the past, both notable bards, the Rev William Ambrose and the Rev Trebor Roberts,” Mr Brooks said.

Selwyn Griffiths, deacon at the chapel, said: “It was a privilege to be present at the two inspirational services that were held at the chapel led by Rev Geraint Tudur, Rev Iwan Ll Jones and Tom Brooks.

“Our membership number may be low, but there is a fantastic and homely feeling within the congregation with everyone working together to ensure that the chapel is on sound footing for the future.

“I sincerely feel that we will in time see an increase in the congregation and that Bethel chapel will remain an integral part of the village life of Borth y Gest”

There were large attendances at the services in English in the morning and in Welsh in the afternoon.

The theme of both services was thanks to God for the service that the chapel and its members had given to the village over the years and continued to do to this day.

Both services were conducted by the Rev Dr Geraint Tudur, the general secretary of the ‘Undeb yr Annibynwyr’ in Wales and the past Moderator of the International Congregational Fellowship worldwide.

Dr Tudur was assisted in the morning service by Pat Chisnall, Gwyneth Murdoch and Tom Brooks and in the afternoon service by the Rev Iwan Ll Jones and Cllr Selwyn Griffiths. Dilwen Harris played the organ at both services and Rowena Griffiths provided the floral arrangements.

Dr Tudur remarked that, from at its earliest days, Borth, as the village was then known, was the home for both Welsh and English-speaking families.

The preaching festival that opened the chapel in 1867 was entirely in Welsh but, by 1883, services in English were regular and the chapel had bought a Bible in English for 13 shillings.

Despite both the front and back of the chapel being rebuilt and extended at different times, the interior maintains its Welsh Victorian appearance with minimal modification.