Plaid Cymru History

  • (Cymraeg) Gwybodaeth am y Gymdeithas

    CYMDEITHAS HANES PLAID CYMRU HISTORY SOCIETY

    Aims of the Society

    To promote discussion, knowledge and research about Plaid Cymru’s history and aspects of history relating to Plaid Cymru.

    To spread knowledge of the individuals and events that contributed to the development of the Party.

    Membership

    Membership is open to individuals and organisations interested in the history of Plaid Cymru and aspects of history dealing with Plaid Cymru

    Officers of the Society

    Chair; Dafydd Williams, Secretary; Eluned Bush, Treasurer; Stephen Thomas 

    http://www.hanesplaidcymru.org.

    The Plaid Cymru History website now provides the key to a range of visual, recorded and written material about our national movement.

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    • We are all part of the history of the Party. Would you like to share your experiences with other members and record them for future researchers?

    If so, contact the Secretary on history@hanesplaidcymru.org

    • Do you have publications that you are unable to ...
    More 26/11/2024
  • Richard Wyn Jones Lecture at the 2024 Eisteddfod

     
    From Future Wales to Plaid Cymru
    O Gymru Fydd i Blaid Cymru
     
     
    At the Societies Tent,  Eisteddfod Rhondda Cynon Taf, Pontypridd on Thursday, 8 August Professor Richard Wyn Jones gave a lecture in Welsh. 
     
    On the eve of Plaid Cymru’s 100th anniversary, he considered the differences and similarities between the Blaid and the nationalist movement that preceded it, namely  Cymru Fydd (Future Wales).
     

    The Plaid Cymru History Society lecture, Pontypridd National Eisteddfod 2024

    From Cymru Fydd to Plaid Cymru

    Richard Wyn Jones

    Director of the Wales Governance Centre, Cardiff ...

    More 27/08/2024
  • Celebrating the first Plaid Cymru Meeting

    Friday 12 January 2024 Plaid Cymru met in Penarth to celebrate 100 years since the first meeting to establish the party.

    Leanne Wood, Rosanne Reeves, Richard Wyn Jones, Gareth Clubb

    Here are the contributions of Leanne Wood and Richard Wyn Jones at the start of the meeting.

     

    Lively Kick-off for Centenary Celebrations

    A series of events marking the foundation of Plaid Cymru nearly a hundred years ago got off to a lively start in Penarth on Friday 12 January 2024 at the Belle Vue Community Centre, Albert Crescent, Penarth. 

    Plaid members and guests took part in an evening to celebrate the formation of a secret group, the Mudiad Cymreig or Welsh movement, one of the organisations whose fusion a year later led to the formal launch of the national party.

    Those present at the meeting  on 7 January ...

    More 13/01/2024
  • Book Launch – The Politics of Co-Opposition

    A new book by John Osmond was launched at a fringe meeting of Plaid Cymru Annual Conference in Cardiff on 12 October 2024.

    Sound archive of the launch meeting –

    Martin Shipton discussing the book with John Osmond
     
    The Politics of Co-Opposition reveals how a completely new form of political engagement in the British Isles – the 2021-24 Co-operation Agreement between Plaid Cymru and Welsh Labour – created history and provided the major part of the Welsh Government’s policy programme for over three years.

    John Osmond, who was involved in negotiating the Agreement as Special Adviser to Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price, provides an insider’s account of the political background to the ...
    More 14/10/2024
  • Fighting for Wales Before the Foundation of Plaid Cymru

    The history of the great poet, T.Gwynn Jones (1871-1949)

    Review of the Welsh language biography ‘Byd Gwynn’ by Alan Llwyd

    We have good reason to be grateful to the poet and author Alan Llwyd, who was brought up in the Llŷn peninsula and now lives in Morriston.  His awdl, a poem in strict metres on the subject Llif (stream, or flow) ensured that  the chair could be awarded this year, providing a real climax for the successful Llŷn and Eifionydd National Eisteddfod.

    By now Alan Llwyd has established himself as one of Wales’ outstanding poets and writers.  His output is astonishing, both in quality and quantity , and includes a number of detailed biographies of Welsh poets, among them T. Gwynn Jones.

    Today people remember T. Gwynn Jones as one of the leading poets of the twentieth century but he was much more – for decades a ...

    More 11/03/2024
  • Saunders Lewis, Wales and Europe by Dafydd Wigley

    The next three years will be crucially important for refining a model of independence relevant for Wales in today’s world.  In the wake of Brexit, Wales needs to protect its essential connection with the continent of Europe – the source of our values and civilisation, and the context of practical independence for our country. 

    Nearly a century ago, the Plaid Cymru leader Saunders Lewis set out a vision of Wales in Europe.  The Plaid Cymru History Society is proud to publish in full the important lecture delivered by Dafydd Wigley during the 2023 Eisteddfod Llŷn ac Eifionydd National Eisteddfod – which shows that this vision is today more relevant than ever.  

    Saunders Lewis, Wales and Europe

    [In Memory of Emrys Bennett Owen,
    who opened my eyes to his vision]

     

    I am grateful to the Eisteddfod for being for this forum to re-examine ideas that are highly ...

    More 14/11/2023