History of Llansannan Activity Centre
In 1940, at the start of World War II, the Royal Artillery established its Coast Artillery School on the western slopes of the Great Orme, Llandudno. As part of Britain’s wider coastal defence strategy, the school was intended to reduce vulnerability to enemy attack while expanding training capacity in a more secure location. The site was rapidly developed and soon became a large-scale military training establishment.
A substantial number of temporary buildings were constructed across the lower slopes of the Great Orme. To reduce visibility from the air, the layout was deliberately designed to resemble a small civilian settlement. Buildings were positioned and adapted to blend into the landscape, with some incorporating features intended to disguise their military purpose.
Despite its outward appearance, the site served as a major wartime training centre. Thousands of servicemen passed through the school during the war, receiving instruction in gunnery, searchlight operation, range-finding, wireless communications, radar use, equipment maintenance, and fieldcraft.
At the end of World War II in 1945, the Royal Artillery Coast Artillery School on the Great Orme was declared surplus to requirements. The vast wartime training complex, once filled with soldiers preparing for coastal defence, quickly fell silent as military operations were scaled back across Britain. Responsibility for the site passed to the Ministry of Works, which oversaw the management and disposal of former wartime buildings and equipment.
Many of the structures faced an uncertain future. Some were dismantled, others abandoned, while others were offered for sale as surplus government property.
Among those who saw opportunity rather than obsolescence was Captain Joan Dovener of the 1st Llansannan Girl Guide Company. In 1945, she purchased one of the former military buildings, recognising its potential to serve a very different purpose. Through determined fundraising efforts, plans were put in place to carefully dismantle the structure and transport it to a new site in Llansannan. The project was supported by Mr Evan Roberts who arranged the new location, while the rebuilding work was carried out by Mr Elwyn Morris Jones.
What had once formed part of a wartime military training complex was given a new life in the heart of the community as 'The Girl Guide Hall', transforming from a monument of wartime Britain into a place of learning, adventure, and opportunity for future generations.
The Girl Guide Hall stood at the heart of village life, serving as a lively meeting place for the community. It hosted a wide range of activities, from Guide meetings and camps to tea dances, whist drives, and concerts, functioning as the village hall before a purpose-built community centre was established elsewhere in the village.
As the needs of the village evolved, the building found a new purpose. It was later transferred to Crosby & District Scouts and, on 19 April 1969, was officially opened as the Llansannan Activity Centre.
Over the decades, the centre has hosted countless camps, training weekends, activity days, and volunteer working parties dedicated to improving and maintaining the building and grounds for future generations.
It has welcomed the Chernobyl Children’s Project UK recuperative holiday programme, offering children affected by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster the chance to experience friendship, adventure, and respite in the beautiful North Wales countryside.
Thanks to the dedication of Llansannan villagers, Girlguides, Scouts, and supporters, the former wartime building has continued to evolve while remaining true to the spirit of adventure, service, friendship, and cymuned (community) that has defined its history for more than eighty years.
