A MINISTER who died rescuing wounded soldiers during the Battle of Passchendaele in the First World War is to be remembered with a service at a chapel in the foothills of the Black Mountains.

According to a Brecon and Radnor Express report a week or two later, Rev’d Edward Davies died “instantaneously” on October 23 1917 when a shrapnel fragment hit him on the head as he was in the act of lifting a wounded soldier on a stretcher.

Rev’d Davies was the Minister of Penyrheol and Glasbury Baptist Churches from 1906-17 and lived with his wife and two young children in Wood Villas in Felindre. He enlisted in Brecon in 1915 and is named on a memorial inside the chapel at Penyrheol and also in Treble Hill, Glasbury (now Wye Valley Canoe Centre) and on a memorial in Felindre Village Hall. He will feature as part of Penyrheol Chapel’s WWI anniversary services on Sunday, July 16.

Janet Matthews, chapel secretary, said: “Our anniversary services are part of the annual calendar of the community and we know that these services have been held for at least 100 years. This year, for the first time, we will be joined by Christian band Open Door (from Brecon) and choir Holy Joes (led by Pat Hammond and based in Hay) plus others as we celebrate relationships with other churches and chapels in our area.”

Everyone is welcome to attend the anniversary services, which are being held at Penyrheol Chapel from 3pm to 6pm with tea being served in between.