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Every time he puts on his mayoral chain Peter James, mayor of Llanwrtyd Wells, thinks of the Jewish children who fled there in World War II.

The first link in the solid gold chain was presented to the town many years later by the now grown-up Czech Jewish children who were given a home there after being rescued from Hitler’s murderous regime.

Whisked out of Eastern Europe, on trains organised by London banker Nicholas Winton, more than 130 children, aged eight to teenage, were taken to safety in the heart of Wales – where the Czech School was set up in the Abernant Hotel.

A shelter from the terror of war

Former pupil Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines remembers it as one of the happiest times of her life, a shelter from the terror of war in mainland Europe.

“At that time people in Llanwrtyd Wells hadn’t had foreigners but we were welcomed,” she said. “After arriving we put a concert on and sang the Welsh national anthem, in Welsh, and from that moment they adopted us.

“We were very happy at the school. Most did not know what was happening with their parents so the school was like a family.

“I can’t ever remember talking about the war. First of all we didn’t know what was going on or how we got on those trains out. It was all a mystery for years.”

Lady Milena lost relatives in the Holocaust. But, while her parents escaped, she says many were not so lucky.

'That little town was... a very loving home'

Fellow pupil Vera Gissing, now 86 and living in England, discovered both parents had been murdered by the Nazis while she was at the school.

“What was so important, particularly to those of us who lost our parents, was that that little town was, in effect, a very loving home,” she would later tell the Western Mail.

“It was not just the school.

“The school was a home in a town which was our town. We felt we belonged.”

Lady Milena agrees. After the war she stayed in Britain, married pioneering architect Sir George Grenfell-Baines and had children of her own.

But she never forgot the welcome in Wales.

All the children were given the freedom of the town

Among those she remembers fondly in Llanwrtyd Wells is the late Joe Jones, who ran the village shop and took pupils to sports matches in his van – because they didn’t have parents to give them lifts.

As adults the children returned to put a seat in the town in his memory, plant a maple tree and erect a plaque saying “Llanwrtyd Wells, the smallest town in the land, remains the greatest in our hearts”.

In 1985 they bought the first solid gold link for the mayoral chain, presenting it to the then mayor Bryn Jones – and all the children were given the Freedom of the Town.

“The chain has a lovely story and at any official occasion when I am wearing it that first link is against my heart,” said current mayor Mr James, who will be among those visiting the Czech Republic later this year as part of a twinning delegation.

“It is a very moving story. The children donated a lot to the town. Many went on to live all over the world and became doctors, solicitors, surgeons, writers and people working for peace.

“Many of them never forgot the area and reunions were held for many years, some here, some in the Czech Republic.”

Later this year Mr James, who runs the Drovers Rest Restaurant, will be part of the town council’s twinning delegation going to visit Llanwrtyd Wells’ twin town Český Krumlov in the Czech Republic.

“It’s an ongoing link. You can’t imagine what these children went through. Many lost family in Auschwitz and other Nazi camps. The children will always be part of the town and its history.”