A DEDICATION service honouring all Barry merchant seamen and a former chairman of the Royal British Legion Barry branch has been held in Barry.

Memorial bench tributes to the brave seafarers and stalwart leader John Hobbs who died, aged 79, in April 2012.

The service was conducted by Father Ben Andrews, of St Mary’s church, of which John was a member.

John’s son Robert said: “I am very proud.

“I think he deserved it and it’s nice that he will be remembered long after I’ve gone and the people of Barry will be able to sit and reflect on not just the men who fought, but all the service men who died for our country.

“I had a tear in my eye and although I think he deserved it he would think there’s a lot more people that deserved it more than him.

Legion president Keith Harris said the branch and the Barry branch of the Merchant Navy Association (Wales) had both thought benches would be fitting tributes.

Association chairman, Jim Greenway said the funding had become available thanks to generous donations from an elderly lady and a sum of money from a member who attended a Dutch merchant navy college and ended up at a nuclear power station in Japan.

Jim said: “The lady wanted the brave men of the merchant navy to be remembered and we thought a bench near the cenotaph would be a good idea.”