Thursday
,
01 July 2010
Arandora Star Commemoration
On 02 July 2010, a ceremony held in Cardiff marked the 70th anniversary of the sinking of the Arandora Star. A memorial was unveiled in commemoration of the British liner, which was sunk in 1940 by U47 off the northwest coast of Ireland with the loss of more than 800 lives.
The unveiling took place during a service at St David's Cathedral in Cardiff. Memorials already exist in Liverpool, London, Glasgow and in Bardi, Italy.
The ceremony was attended by the Italian Ambassador to the UK, H.E. Mr Alain Giorgio Maria Economides, the Canadian High Commissioner, Mr James Wright, and the Mayor of Bardi, Mr Giuseppe Conti.
An exhibition on the tragedy has been on display to the public in the Old Library, Cardiff and the organisers hope that it will eventually travel throughout Wales.
The Arandora Star was a British liner, converted to use as a troop carrier by the Royal Navy during World War 2.
At the end of June 1940, she was assigned the task of transporting German and Italian internees and Prisoners of War to Canada. She set off from Liverpool on 01 July carrying approximately 1200 internees (712 of whom were Italian), 86 Prisoners of War and 374 guards and ship's crew.
On 02 July 1940 she was sunk by U47 off the north west coast of Ireland with the loss of more than 800 lives. Of those killed, 446 were Italian and 53 were Welsh Italian internees.
In the 1920s and 30s, almost every community in Wales had its own Italian café or ice cream parlour. The majority of the immigrants that came to Wales were from the Bardi area of Italy.
While he was in Wales for the memorial ceremony and unveiling, the Mayor of Bardi took the opportunity to visit Café Bardi, in St Fagans. Its website states that the café was named Bardi "...to highlight the strong Welsh-Italian community that exists in south Wales. Many of the Italians who settled in Wales originally came from the Bardi area of the country, and the name has become synonymous with Italian communities in the south Wales Valleys. By calling the venue Bardi, St Fagans is recognising the contribution of these communities in Welsh life today and throughout the twentieth century."