"I grew up in a part of the country you don't associate with black people. I grew up in a very white seaside town on the North Wales coast. When I was a child in the sixties, there were no other black people in school, no black people serving in the shops or the banks, no black people came on holiday to Llandudno and there weren't even any black people on the telly or in books, unless they were gollywogs or wild savages. My world was very white indeed.

The only other coloured people I can remember ever seeing were some children that passed through the Dr Barnardo's home from time to time. It's difficult to feel you belong when there is nothing around you to give you a message that you are of the place. That's why history matters. That's why black history matters.

It took me a long time to uncover the rich seam of black history that is part of the place where I live and grew up. A friend took me to the small cemetery at Llanelian above Colwyn Bay and pointed out the graves of the Congo boys.

I remember as a child my 'ma' had told me that there used to be a college for black fellows in Colwyn Bay but I didn't think too much about it. Way back in 1885 two small African boys arrived at Llandudno pier on board the steamer St. Tudno, after a journey that had taken months of travel down long rivers and across the vast ocean.

They were the beginnings of a grand scheme, the brainchild of the Reverend William Hughes that saw many young Africans brought to Wales to train in the ministry and in a trade.

The Reverend believed that instead of missionaries going out to Africa to spread the word of God, training institutes like the one established in Colwyn Bay would be more effective as many of the white missionaries had died in the harsh climate of the Congo. The idea was that when the boys were trained they could return to their own lands and take the ministry back to civilise their peoples.

In this way nobody would perish because, the Reverend surmised, Africans seemed to be safeguarded from the evil effects of climatic changes because of their physical structure! But many did perish and were buried in Colwyn Bay. Their graves tell the story of an ambitious project that brought Africa to Wales; a story that lay dormant in those graves for many years.

Imagine those black boys working in the small businesses of Colwyn Bay - in the printers, the chemists, the carpenters and with the blacksmith of the town.

Imagine them in Sunday best walking down to the church on the high street. Imagine the garden parties they held at the Institute. Imagine the cuddles and the kisses and the courtships that passed between them and the local girls. Black people in Colwyn Bay a century ago. That makes me feel I belong!"