Chocks away! Wales and the Battle of Britain Exhibition opens at Aberavon Shopping Centre

The Wales and the Battle of Britain Touring Exhibition has been officially opened this week (Mon 5 September) by the Mayor of Neath Port Talbot, Councillor Robert Wood.

Also attending the opening were Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of West Glamorgan Mrs Louise Fleet, the High Sheriff of West Glamorgan, Mr Stephen Hugh Rogers and representatives from the Sea Cadets (Neath), Royal British Legion and Air Cadets (Neath)

The exhibition tells the story of Wales’s contribution in the largest air battle ever recorded and was created by the RAF’s Air Historical Branch (Dr Lynsey Shaw) together with Air Commodore Adrian Williams, Air Officer Wales, and his team, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

Featuring a series of large, prepared panels and a number of artefacts, the exhibition will include photographs and narrative to tell, for the first time, the story of how Wales featured in the Battle of Britain and what happened in the skies and on the ground during wartime.

Accompanying the exhibition is a full-size replica of a Battle of Britain Mk I/II Supermarine Spitfire fighter plane, provided by War and Peace Displays. The striking exhibit will be in the shopping centre until Friday (9 Sept).

Heritage groups from across Neath Port Talbot have come together to support the exhibition and will be attending over the week, the Friends of Neath Abbey Iron Company attending on Monday, Friends of Margam Park on Tuesday, Lost Peatlands Project – Prosiect Adfer Mawndiroedd on Thursday; and Tŷ Banc Canal Group and Friends of Margam Park on Saturday.

Cllr Chris James, Neath Port Talbot Council’s Armed Forces Champion, said: “I welcome this excellent exhibition which demonstrates the important role that Wales and Welsh people played in this historically significant event.”

Cllr Wyndham Griffiths, also a Neath Port Talbot Council Armed Forces Champion, added: ”The exhibition  is giving people from many generations a chance to look back at the Battle of Britain which took place in the skies as Britain fought against the threat of invasion.”

The Wales and the Battle of Britain Touring Exhibition will be at the Aberafan Shopping Centre until Sunday 11 September, and the replica Spitfire will be there until Friday 9 September.

Entry is free.

(Lead image: Neath Port Talbot Council)