Plaid Remembers Wynne Samuel
More 19/09/2018A special session will take place in next month’s Plaid Cymru annual conference to honour the memory of the late Dr Wynne Samuel.
Born in Ystalyfera in the Swansea Valley, Wynne Samuel helped lay the foundations of Plaid Cymru in the South Wales valleys and became one of the party’s first ever councillors when he won a seat on Pontardawe Rural District Council in 1946.
He went on to become a barrister and a leading expert on local government, and at one time was considered alongside Gwynfor Evans as a potential leader of Plaid Cymru. In 1965, he was appointed as Town Clerk – or chief executive – of Tenby Borough Council in Pembrokeshire, and later on he became secretary and driving force behind the Association of Welsh Community and Town Councils.
Wynne Samuel’s service will be commemorated in an illustrated lecture organised by the Plaid Cymru History Society and delivered by the ...
Remembering Phil Williams A tribute by Cynog Dafis
More 17/08/2018At a special meeting in the Cardiff National Eisteddfod on Thursday, 9 August 2018, Plaid Cymru celebrated the life of the late Professor Phil Williams, the party’s candidate in the Caerffili by-election fifty years ago.
At the meeting, organised by the Plaid Cymru History Society, tributes were paid by Dafydd Williams and Cynog Dafis with a contribution by Dafydd Wigley.
Remembering Phil Williams
A tribute by Cynog Dafis
I could speak all day about Phil, wondrous polymath as he was, but I have only a brief 15 minutes and I want to concentrate on his very particular contribution to green issues – the most crucial subject – if I may venture to say, of every subject in the world.
But there is no way I can omit some special memories.
I have a clear recollection of the first time I ever saw him – in the Plaid Summer School ...Elwyn Roberts Lectures
More 14/01/2018
Elwyn Roberts, the anchor man of Plaid Cymru throughout much of the twentieth century, was the topic of the Plaid history society’s 2017 annual Eisteddfod lecture. For all his apparent solid background in bank management, Elwyn Roberts was a committed and determined nationalist who put love of Wales before his professional career.His work for Wales was described by former Plaid leader Dafydd Wigley, historian Gwynn Matthews and Elwyn’s successor as party general secretary Dafydd Williams. You can read the full text of their lectures and listen to a recording the session in the Societies’ tent in the 2017 National Eisteddfod in Ynys Môn.
Memories of Elwyn Roberts
Translation of the Address by Dafydd Wigley to the Plaid Cymru History Society,
Eisteddfod Ynys Môn; August, 2017
It is a pleasure to open this meeting to commemorate Elwyn Roberts, one of Plaid Cymru’s stalwarts, and appropriate ...
Remembering Phil Williams Tribute by Dafydd Williams
More 17/08/2018At a special meeting in the Cardiff National Eisteddfod on Thursday, 9 August 2018, Plaid Cymru celebrated the life of the late Professor Phil Williams, the party’s candidate in the Caerffili by-election fifty years ago.
At the meeting, organised by the Plaid Cymru History Society, tributes were paid by Dafydd Williams and Cynog Dafis with a contribution by Dafydd Wigley.
Remembering Phil Williams
A tribute by Dafydd Williams, Chairman, Plaid Cymru History Society
It is difficult to believe that fifteen years have passed since we mourned the loss of Phil Williams. And for my generation, it is also difficult to believe that a whole half a century has gone by since that historic by-election in the Caerffili constituency. We still await a worthy biography, and hopefully that will arrive in due course. But much has been written by and about this remarkable figure – so much in fact that the problem is what to leave ...
John Osmond’s New Novel
More 20/04/2018The years when Wales became a political nation: how 1979 turned into 1997
Here you can listen to a recording of Plaid History chairman Dafydd Williams in conversation with John Osmond about his newly published documentary novel Ten Million Stars Are Burning in Plaid Cymru’s Spring Conference in the Pavilion, Llangollen on Friday 23 March 2018.
The book is the first of a trilogy by the well-known writer and commentator John Osmond. It traces the big changes in Wales between the two devolution referendums of 1979 and 1997 through the eyes of two fictional characters – and a host of real-life players!
While the two principal characters are fictional, the novel presents a detailed factual account of the decade leading up to the first devolution referendum of 1979 by an author who played an active central role in the key events. It is essential reading for all ...
Jim Criddle 1947 – 2017
More 09/01/2018A Gentle Giant
Helen Mary Jones pays tribute to Jim Criddle
It was my privilege at Conference last month to present a posthumous long service award to the family of the late Jim Criddle, longstanding Plaid activist and councillor from Pontllanfraith.
I’m told that Jim was at one time a Labour Party member, but it didn’t take him long to see the light. He was convinced by his old friend Malcolm Parker to stand for Plaid in a local council election in the early 70’s, and so began a lifetime of commitment to Plaid and a total of over 30 years’ service as a councillor.At the same time Jim set out to learn Welsh, which he did. Through these studies he met his wife, Rhian Heulyn, and the two raised a Welsh speaking family, Betsan, Geraint and Branwen. Working for Plaid became a family ...