Author: Rheolwr Gwefan

Remembering Glyn James

A Blue Plaque in memory of the leading nationalist Glyn James was unveiled on Saturday 19th October at 9 Darran Terrace, Glyn Rhedynog / Ferndale, Rhondda CF43 4LG.  

The plaque was unveiled by Councillor Geraint Davies and tributes were given by Cennard Davies and Jill Evans A.E. A musical contribution was given by Côr y Morlais. The event was organised by Maerdy Archive and its Secretary, David Owen.  

 

The Reverend Fred Jones (1877-1948) one founders of Plaid Cymru

The Reverend Fred Jones (1877-1948) was one of the six founding fathers of Plaid Cymru who launched the party at a historic meeting at Pwllheli in 1925 and one of the famous Cilie family of poets from Ceredigion.  He worked as a minister in Rhymni, Treorci and Tal-y-bont Ceredigion and was a lifelong nationalist.

Dafydd Iwan delivering a lecture on the career of his grandfather, Fred Jones, one of the founding members of Plaid Cymru.  Also in the picture is Ben Lake MP, who took the chair at the Plaid History session on 4 October during the party’s 2019 annual conference in Swansea.

 

Glanmor Bowen-Knight 1945 – 2019: a Tribute

We were sad to hear of the recent death of one of Plaid Cymru’s leading members in the Gwent valleys, Glanmor Bowen-Knight, Tredegar.  The Plaid Cymru History Society extends its deepest sympathy to his sister Rae and the family.  A tribute to Glanmor by his friend Hywel Davies may be read here.

 

GLANMOR BOWEN-KNIGHT: A TRIBUTE

The passing of Plaid Cymru activist and former councillor Glanmor Bowen-Knight of Tredegar was fittingly observed at Llwydcoed Crematorium on Wednesday, 9 October, 2019 in a humanist service attended by a large gathering of family and friends.

Among them were Dafydd Williams, former General Secretary of Plaid Cymru, Jocelyn Davies, former Plaid Assembly Member for South Wales East, and Alun Davies, former Plaid party member and current Labour Assembly Member for Blaenau Gwent.

Though physically challenged from early childhood, and obliged to walk with the aid of sticks, Glanmor was proud to proclaim that in better circumstances he would have been ‘a 6-footer’. Politically, his life of huge dedication to the national movement of Wales confirmed his claim.

A member of Plaid Cymru since the 1960s, Glanmor served in various capacities as an officer of the Tredegar Branch and Ebbw Vale / Blaenau Gwent Constituency committee. He was also a Plaid member of Tredegar Town Council for many years until shortly before his final ill health. By profession, Glanmor was an horologist, having been trained as a young man at St Loye’s college in Exeter. He was well known in Tredegar as the watchmaker and jeweller fastidiously at work for several decades in his corner of the Gus Jones Jewellers shop.

As in his work, so too in politics, Glan used his precise and well organised brain to great effect in helping to build an effective Plaid Cymru party machine in the unpromising birthplace of Nye Bevan.  He delighted in seeing the fruits of his labour, along with that of others, through the emergence from Tredegar of Plaid AM Steffan Lewis – though lost so tragically young – and the near-victory of Plaid in the 2016 National Assembly election in Blaenau Gwent constituency.

Very justifiably, Glanmor was a recipient of a Plaid Cymru Special Contribution Award.

He leaves a sister, Rae, and her husband Charles, and a wide extended family, all of whom were so proud of him and so devoted to his care.  

D. Hywel Davies

Memorial Plaque for Glyn James

A Blue Plaque in memory of leading nationalist Glyn James will be unveiled at 2:00pm Saturday 19th October at 9 Darran Terrace, Glyn Rhedynog / Ferndale, Rhondda CF43 4LG.  The plaque will be unveiled by Councillor Geraint Davies and the event has been organised by the Maerdy Archive.  Refreshments will be served at Ferndale Business and Professional Men’s Club at 65-66 Dyffryn Street, Ferndale CF43 4EW, thanks to the Maerdy Archive.

 

Who Was Dafydd Iwan’s Grandfather?

The Reverend Fred Jones (1877-1948) was one of the six founding fathers of Plaid Cymru who launched the party at a historic meeting at Pwllheli in 1925 and one of the famous Cilie family of poets from Ceredigion.  He worked as a minister in Rhymni, Treorci and Tal-y-bont Ceredigion and was a lifelong nationalist.

Dafydd Iwan has agreed to speak about his grandfather’s history in a special meeting of the Plaid Cymru History Society in the Annual Conference in Swansea at 4.40pm in the Grand Circle Bar on Friday 4 October 2019.

He will speak in Welsh with simultaneous translation into English.

Hanes Plaid Cymru