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Although only operational between 1947 and 1951, the Domino Club in Barry made a huge impact on all who attended it and the broader community.

It was the first mixed-race youth club in Wales, an early testament to the inclusivity and openness we strive towards today.

Abby Farah, was a Somali entrepreneur and sailor. More important than these things though, was his belief in community. To create a community spirit among the sailor families of Thompson Street, Farah founded the Domino Club in post-war Barry.

As pictures from the time reveal, Farah fostered a carnival spirit and encouraged free expression. It was a club for all nations and all young people in Barry.

In post-war Barry, money was scarce and families were broken. Children were sent to the club to escape the drudgery of daily life.

They learnt to play instruments, they danced, they watched films. Every Saturday morning, a movie was screened and the audience were given a lollipop and a sandwich.

The children learnt that nationality, race and religion did not matter. The highlight of the Domino Club was Barry Carnival, in which children would dress up as famous characters and express themselves. It developed the tagline: "A Club For All Nations".

This was an historical anomaly in the post-war Britain of "No blacks. No Irish. No Dogs." And Barry was richer for it.

But perhaps the strangest consequence of Abby Farah's life was the role his son went on to play in the freeing of Nelson Mandela.

Abdulrahim Abby Farah was born in 1919 and went on to become Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations 1979-1990.

In 1990, Farah headed the UN Mission on 'Progress made on the Declaration on Apartheid and its Destructive Consequences on South Africa', which historians say played a part in freeing the great man.

Farah died in May 2018 at the age of 98, maintaining his thick Barry accent throughout his life.

Now, the Domino Club is remembered with plaques on the Thompson Street Bridge.

The series of slate dominoes, edged in mirror-finished stainless steel have photographic portraits of ex-Domino club members as well as today's youth, in place of the 'dots' on the dominoes.

A poem about Thompson Street written by one of the Domino Club members is letter cut into the first domino.

It reads:

A street of many nations

They come from far and wide

They all went there to settle down

All living side by side They were Portuguese and Irish

Jamaicans, Welsh, Chinese

There were Arabs and Somalis

Indians, Scots, Maltese

Pakistanis and Africans

Italians, Poles and Greeks

There were Russians, Turks and Spaniards

Englishmen and Sheiks Bermudans and Cuban

Barbadians and Dutch

No matter where you came from

It didn't matter much

Decime Haughton-Watkins