Residents are invited to help build a large-scale sand portrait on the Colwyn Bay beach to help remember those lost in the First World War.

Private Ellis Humphrey Evans, 15th Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers, lost his life in the First World War, and will be commemorated by the large-scale sand portrait for Hollywood director Danny Boyle’s Armistice commission Pages of the Sea on Sunday.

Colwyn Bay is one of 32 beaches chosen across the UK and the Republic of Ireland that will take part in the nationwide gesture of remembrance for the men and women who left their home shores during the First World War.

A large-scale portrait of Private Evans (better known by his bardic name of Hedd Wyn), designed by sand artists Sand In Your Eye, will be drawn into the sand on the beach and washed away as the tide comes in.

In addition, the public will be asked to join in by creating silhouettes of people in the sand, remembering the millions of lives lost or changed forever by the conflict. Each of the beaches taking part in the project will commemorate a different WW1 casualty.

Hedd Wyn (Welsh for Shining Peace) was born in Trawsfynydd, Meirionydd, North Wales on January 13, 1887 and killed during the Battle of Passchendaele, on July 31, 1917. He was a Welsh language poet who won his first bardic chair in 1907.

The public is invited to explore an online gallery of portraits of some of the men and women who served in the First World War, and select someone to thank and say a personal goodbye to either via social media or as they gather in person on beaches on 11 November at www.pagesofthesea.org.uk.

The images are drawn from the Imperial War Museum’s ‘Lives of the First World War’ which aims to tell 8 million stories of those who served from Britain and the Commonwealth. Visitors to the website can also add their own portraits of members of their family or community who contributed to the First World War. www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org.

Poet Carol Ann Duffy has been invited by Boyle to write a new poem, which will be read by individuals, families and communities as they gather on beaches on November 11.

The event will run on the Colwyn Bay beach by Porth Eirias and will take place between 7.30am and 3.30pm on Sunday.