Escape to Gwrych Castle with Andrew Hesketh

At the height of the Covid pandemic, Gwrych Castle shot to fame as the alternative setting for I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!

Lesser known is the fact that, at the beginning of World War II, this once grand country house in North Wales became home to 200 Jewish refugee children who had been rescued from Europe on the Kindertransport.

Meet Andrew Hesketh as he tells how these children and their adult guardians established a Hachshara at the Castle, a training centre intended to prepare them for the dream of establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine where they hoped to be reunited with the families they left behind.

He shines a light on the moving story of the refugees, the community they built and the relationships they forged with the local community, a chapter of Jewish – and Welsh – history that deserves to be more widely known.

 Andrew Hesketh was born and grew up in Derbyshire. Following his degree, Andrew trained to be a teacher and moved to work in North Wales in 1995. His interest in local history led him to investigate the history of Gwrych Castle and his discovery of the almost forgotten story of the Jewish refugees who once lived there. The result is his first book, Escape to Gwrych Castle.  Andrew is Assistant Headteacher at Ysgol Aberconwy and lives in Abergele.