Rheolwr Gwefan – Page 9 – Hanes Plaid Cymru

Remembering Phil Williams Tribute by Dafydd Williams

At 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 out. It is good that Cynog Dafis is with us today to look at Phil’s contribution to our understanding of the importance of the environment, one of the great causes of his busy life.

Phil was four years older than me – he was born in Tredegar in the Heads of the Valleys in Gwent, and was brought up in Bargoed – a place, it was said, that boasted that second biggest coal tip in the world, although no-one was very sure where exactly was the biggest one! He was fond of tracing his descent on both sides of the family, his mother and father, from the Black Mountains of Carmarthenshire. This was important to him – because the story of his family mirrored the history of his country. His father’s parents started married life in Bryn Merched, a small upland farm near Llyn-y-fan. Years afterwards, Phil set out to find it, armed with an 1870 Ordnance Survey map – but all that was left was a pile of stones. His father’s family moved to a farm in the Rhymni Valley – a farm that depended on the vibrant economy of the local mining community. And something similar took place to his mother’s family – with her father moving from a job in a wool processing factory in the Llangadog area to work in the mines, ending his working life in Bargoed.

So he grew up as one of three children, David, Phil and Jennifer, in the Rhymni Valley, where his father worked as a teacher and headmaster. His mother too worked as a teacher, having studied in the Coleg Normal in Bangor – and Phil would recount the sad story of how her fellow students poked fun at her local Welsh dialect, Gwenhwyseg, and how as a result she did not pass on the language to her children.

Phil attended the Lewis School, Pengam where his brilliance rapidly became apparent. I recently heard his brother David relate the story of how he gave a lift to Phil to attend an interview at Jesus College, Oxford – only for him to tell the panel that he really wanted to study science in Cambridge. Yet such was his performance that the Oxford dons held open a place for him, just in case! Thus it was that he went to Clare College, Cambridge, following his brother David – Phil to study science, as had his uncle, R.M. Davies, who was later Professor in the physics department in Aberystwyth – and it is interesting to note that Phil followed his uncle’s footsteps some decades later. In Cambridge he quickly came across using a computer – this was 1957, remember. And from then on, he would always be at the vanguard of technological development. I remember, sometime in the 1970s, being floored by his penetrating statement, “All you need’s a modem”! At the time, I had little idea what exactly was a modem or an e-mail – I believed that the Plaid office was leading the world with our brand-new cutting edge fax machine! And when Phil called, back in the sixties, for every house in Wales to have its own computer, people thought he was being unrealistic – today of course we take it for granted.

Yes, of Phi’s brilliance, there is no doubt. But he had much more to offer than brilliance alone. He also had a heart and a soul and a conscience – and fortunately for us, Wales became the focus of his aspirations. As one of the children of the mining communities, he had always taken an interest in the radical politics of the Valleys – and at the age of 16, he joined the Labour Party. In Cambridge, he co-authored the manifesto Socialism for Tomorrow, which called for the decentralisation of power from London by now he had seen for himself the intellectual chasm that lay between the Labour Party elite and the socialism of the working people of Wales.

I doubt very much that Phil would welcome any comparison with the Apostle Paul! But there must have been some ‘Damascus moment’ in his career. Perhaps it followed the fierce debates about Welsh politics that took place between him and one of his fellow-students in Cambridge, the late Dr John Davies, who later became one of his closest friends. But despite those debates, and the seeds they planted, in 1959 he made his way to Caerffili to assist the Labour campaign in the general election. And there, he had a shock. There, he came across the Plaid Cymru candidate, John Howells. Here was a man brought up in Pakistan, non-Welsh speaking and working in the aerospace industry in California. John Howells blew away any remaining prejudice about Plaid Cymru and its vision for Wales. And after reading the Plaid manifesto, Free Wales, Phil Williams signed up as a member. He decided that there had to be a Plaid branch in Cambridge, which had two members to begin with – Phil appointed John Davies as secretary, and John appointed Phil as chairman!

From then on, science would have to compete with politics for his attention and his time. On the political front, he found the door of Plaid Cymru wide open, and no shortage of demand for his talent, energy and time. But science too was a constant source of attraction – and, I believe, sometimes also a place of refuge from political disappointments. in 1962, he married Ann Green who came from the Blackwood area in the next door Sirhywi valley – and a son and daughter, Iestyn and Sara, were to follow. Ann is a well-known artist who continues to exhibit her work – and Phil himself took a passionate interest in the arts, as well as playing a saxophone in a number of jazz groups over the years, and helping to set up the group Assembly Broadband in the National Assembly later on.

In 1964, he stood for the first time as Parliamentary candidate for Caerffili, a constituency he would contest for Plaid Cymru six times. This was the ‘Dr Phil’ I came to know as a fellow member of the Plaid Cymru Research Group, a new group led by Dafydd Wigley and himself. We used to meet in London, Phil travelling from Cambridge to join us. By now he had been appointed a Fellow in his old college, Clare, and breaking new ground in space science and helping to discover quasars.

Plenty on his plate in academia, therefore, but it was a turbulent time in Wales too, and he was determined to play a full part. We had Gwynfor in the House of Commons, but without the resources someone would consider normal these days. The plaid Research Group, Dafydd and Phil in particular, filled the gap to some degree – helping to uncover information and framing questions to put orally and in written form in Westminster.

And then, along came the Caerffili by-election. By now Phil had taken up a new post in Aberystwyth and I was on the party’s full-time staff in Cardiff. I had campaigned as a foot soldier before, including the key by-elections in Carmarthen and Rhondda West, as well as Abertyleri, but this was the first time for me to help organise a by-election from start to finish. And it was a by-election to remember – an impressive headquarters on the Twyn opposite Caerffili castle, a thorough canvassing system, an outstanding local team – and that motorcade, four hundred cars it’s said.

But what really makes Caerffili memorable is the way that Phil Williams went about the task of putting over the message – that Wales could run its own life as a free nation. There were public meetings in every corner of the constituency – and they were more like university seminars than party rallies, with people having the real opportunity to debate and pose questions. Phil came within 1,800 votes of winning, with forty per cent of the poll, a swing of 29 per cent, at the time the second greatest swing ever in the United Kingdom.

Fifty years on, it is important for us to recognise the far-reaching impact of that campaign. The Caerffili by-election pushed the government of Harold Wilson into moving ahead to set up the Commission on the Constitution, a process which led in the end to the devolution of power from London. Not that devolution was the target – Phil stressed the need for Wales to win full self-government, and he was quite happy to use the term independence. But without a doubt, following the by-elections in Carmarthen with Gwynfor, Rhondda West with Vic Davies and Hamilton in Scotland with Winnie Ewing – Caerffili gave a real push forward.

Phil played a major role in constructing one of Plaid Cymru’s most important publications ever, the 1970 Economic Plan for Wales, presented to the Royal Commission on the Constitution. At the core of the Plan was a robust analysis of the economy made by Professor Edward Nevin – an ‘input-output’ analysis that measured how different sectors of the economy impacted on each other. Nevin had already carried out an important study in 1957 that demonstrated that total taxes collected in Wales exceeded public spending, a study that had greatly impressed Phil before he joined Plaid Cymru. With the threats then evident to the coal and steel industries, a serious input-output study was clearly vital for any future economic strategy – and indeed Nevin himself was anxious for it to be used in just such a way by the Harold Wilson government. But no, it was ignored by the Labour government, who brought out a particularly flimsy document called Wales – The Way Ahead – and made Nevin see red!

Dafydd Wigley and Phil saw their opportunity, and persuaded Edward Nevin to allow us to use his work to provide an in-depth estimate of the potential unemployment facing Wales in the years ahead, given the problems of coal and steel. This was one part of the Economic Plan – defining the scale of the problem. It then went on to propose a pattern of growth areas, with new industries and the effective transport infrastructure they required. It was at the time a revolutionary approach that attracted widespread notice – I remember after a night spent by the Gestetner photocopier rolling out copies for the next day’s Press conference the thrill of seeing the front page lead of the South Wales Echo and its headline – ‘We’ll make you rich if you let us – Plaid Cymru’. And the satisfaction later on of listening to the praise it received from Lord Geoffrey Crowther, Chairman of the Commission on the Constitution and an eminent economist. Of course, London was deaf was the argument made. Coal, steel and agriculture lost thousands of jobs, creating exactly the knock-on damage predicted by Plaid Cymru – but without the developments needed to our infrastructure to counter the negative impacts.

About the same time as his work on the Economic Plan, Phil played an important scientific role in persuading Britain to join EISCAT, a European project that studies upper levels of the atmosphere. He was appointed as one of the directors, and later Chairman of the project in Kiruna, above the Arctic circle in Sweden where he was to spend a considerable amount of time. Once again, politics had to run alongside science – but again this experience greatly enriched his work for Wales. He would often compare the economic situation or public services in Wales with those of the Scandinavian countries. Kiruna was a former centre of iron mining in Sweden but thanks to the vision of that country’s independent government it had become a major centre for space science research. Visiting an exhibition on this transformation, Phil noticed that his home town – Bargoed – was cited as an example of how not to handle economic decline!

Once during the 1970s, Phil and I went on a journey to the South of France, Occitania – for him scientific work, for me a cheap holiday! Although the weather was not so great to begin with, and his car kicked up from time to time, we arrived safely at our first destination – an EISCAT observatory in a really inaccessible part of the Massif Centrale, miles from any bar or restaurant, but Phil in his element, discussing the latest discoveries with his fellow scientists – all of them young men wearing beards and jeans! Then it as on to Grenoble for a space science conference in the university, where Phil contributed to the lecture sessions and I was free to wander the city. Every now and then during the journey, the car would come to an abrupt halt – and Phil would jump out to take a photograph – not of a castle, or lake or mountain but a wall – he had a formidable collection of close-up pictures of bricks or stones in walls from all over the place.

Phil always demanded accuracy – in his politics as in his science – and he was never ready to accept alleged facts or figures without checking them through for himself. He was famously uncomfortable with a number of claims made by Plaid – for example, the amount of water exported by Wales which he worked out exceeded our total rainfall!

He would also keep every scrap of paper that seemed significant. I remember once during the mid-1980s, we had something of a scrap about the selection of a by-election candidate for the Cynon Valley – and everything depended on the status and representation of the party’s Women’s section – and whether it had been duly established in line with the party’s rules. It was Phil who came to the rescue, discovering the evidence from the 1950s somewhere in his attic! Perhaps because of this practice, he seemed to take with him multiple briefcases all his journeys, one for Plaid papers, one for his scientific work and so on.

Of course it was never easy to accomplish every task on his job list – and sometimes I would feel it necessary as General Secretary to lean on him for some policy draft needed for the Executive or National Council. More often than not, his voice would be heard on the phone with one of his frequent questions, “What’s the absolute deadline?”. And generally, my ‘absolute deadline’ would pass by, yet somehow or other he would never fail to produce the goods in time. And, naturally, his work was unfailingly of the highest quality, which was why Plaid Cymru would turn to him time after time.

I often find myself thinking, listening to the news these days, what would be Dr Phil’s opinion if only he were still with us? Brexit, for example. Phil was a Welsh European to the core, and while supporting Plaid’s line during the 1975 Referendum, he was glad when the whole thing was over. A year later, in an important speech to the Summer School in Lampeter, he stressed his support for the concept of ‘Europe of the Hundred Flags’, the idea of an association of free nations. He stood as a candidate for the European Parliament twice in Mid and West Wales in 1984 and 1989, and played a leading role in developing links between Plaid Cymru and parties representing the nations and regions of Europe. He saw clearly that we shared the experience of being internal colonies of the big powers. It is a pity that his vision was not shared by the establishment in London and the other capitals – It is unlikely we would face the prospect of Brexit and things would be very different in Catalunya and Scotland – and possibly in Wales as well.

Phil held a number of national offices with Plaid Cymru during his career, including those of Chairman and Vice-President, and there was talk on a number of occasions of him as a possible party leader. I do not believe he ever seriously desired such a role – apart from his career as a scientist, he never craved a role as a politician, although he acknowledged that election to the National Assembly for Wales was the greatest honour in his life.

Neither did he bother too much with his own image. The late Patrick Hannan told the story of how the two of them walked together to a university dinner in a grand hotel, Phil with a helmet on his head and pushing his bike. When they arrived, he parked the bike in the toilet, explaining that he often parked it there!

Phil was brought up non-Welsh speaking, although Welsh was the language of his ancestors on both sides of the family. But he learnt Welsh thoroughly, delivering a complex speech in Welsh on sustainable development in 2003. But spending his life in pursuit of excellence, he was aware that he could express himself the most fluently in English. That is why John Davies felt he was hesitant to use the other languages he learnt, languages that included Swedish, Norwegian, French and Russian as well as Welsh.

After fighting so many elections, it came as a surprise to win! But that is what happened in 1999, the annus mirabilis of Plaid Cymru, and Phil carrying the Plaid Cymru banner in the Blaenau Gwent constituency – with a fine campaign HQ in the centre of Tredegar – as well as standing second on the list in the South-east Wales region. The count in Ebbw Vale for the Blaenau Gwent seat went on late – and by the time Phil found his way to the regional count in Newport it was all over and everyone had gone home. Everyone, that is, apart from a caretaker sweeping up the floor, who informed him that ‘some Professor’ had won a seat but had failed to show up for the announcement. And thereafter Phil liked to say how that was the way he heard confirmation that he had won an election – after four decades of campaigning!

So for the first time he became a full-time politician, although he would spend most Mondays lecturing or in the laboratory in Aberystwyth. Perhaps the National Assembly was not the natural environment for him and his style of communication, although I am sure that Westminster and its crude ‘knock about’ would have appealed much less. But his knowledge and his approachable style made a deep impact on his fellow-Members, so much so that he was chosen as Assembly Member of the Year for his work – this in the Assembly’s first year by Channel 4 and the Western Mail. Fortunately his speeches and major interventions have been published in a handsome volume, thanks to Gwerfyl Hughes Jones, and this collection stands as proof positive of the care and ability that Phil invested in everything he did throughout his life.

Membership of the National Assembly opened up a whole new treasure trove of information, something he used with great skill to expose the way the Treasury in London pocketed European funds instead of passing them on to Wales. Once again his partnership with Dafydd Wigley proved crucial and the effects far-reaching – including toppling Alun Michael from his post of First Secretary and – still more important – forcing the Chancellor Gordon Brown to accept transferring European money intact to Wales, all £442 million of it.

Somehow in the middle of this hectic period he found time to contribute a masterly study of Welsh scientists, another of his favourite topics, to the Encyclopaedia of Wales. And he was equally as passionate in his support for the arts in Wales – it’s worth reading his speech to the Assembly celebrating all the artists Wales has produced and calling for the establishment of a gallery for contemporary arts with regional branches.

I was disappointed to hear he intended to give up his Assembly seat in 2003. Science was exercising its gravitational pull once more – and Phil planned to spend more time on his space science research. There is no doubt he felt more at home with his fellow scientists. Not that every scientist is a saint and every politician a sinner, he once remarked. “But there is a different attitude towards truth. If a scientist deliberately presents false data, that scientist has ruined his or her reputation for life. But politicians do it all the time”

And yet – a short while before his untimely death, he was planning to work as a part-time research assistant to new Assembly Member Alun Ffred Jones – and so continue to combine two action-packed lives.

His death, at the age of just sixty-four years, came as an enormous blow to people in many walks of life. Today we can only give thanks that he was ready to give so much for the cause of Wales.

This is an extended version of the address to a meeting of the Plaid Cymru History Society delivered in the Cardiff National Eisteddfod, Thursday 9 August 2018

Select Bibliography

‘Voice from the Valleys’. Phil Williams. Plaid Cymru (1981)

‘The Story of Plaid Cymru’. Dafydd Williams. Plaid Cymru (1990)

‘The Welsh Budget’. Phil Williams. Y Lolfa (1998)

‘Pam y dylai Cymru gael Hunanlywodraeth? / Why should Wales have self-government?’ Phil Williams. Plaid Cymru (1997)

Professor Phil Williams (Obituary). Meic Stephens. The Independent. 13 June 2003

‘Phil Williams (1939-2003)’. Cynog Dafis. Planet, the Welsh Internationalist 152. Summer 2003.

‘Phil Williams: The Assembly Years’. Edited by Gwerfyl Hughes Jones. Plaid Cymru (2004)

‘Portrait of a Patriot’. Rhys Evans. Y Lolfa (2008)

‘Be’ Nesa!’ Dafydd Wigley. Cyfrol 4. Cyfres y Cewri 10. Gwasg Gwynedd (2013)

Remembering Phil Williams A tribute by Cynog Dafis

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 in Llangollen in 1961, a pint of beer in his hand, and his face shining as he joined in the singing that resounded through the bar, Welsh singing of course. We usually think of Phil as a thinker – he said that reading Ted Nevin’s essay on Welsh economic statistics caused him to join Plaid Cymru – but his passion for Wales and its national movement flowed from the heart and guts. It was that visceral passion that drove his work for Plaid Cymru throughout his life.

My second memory of him is speaking in a meeting of the Plaid National Executive in November 1964 in the wake of a thoroughly disappointing general election, on a motion John Bwlchllan and I proposed that the party should cease, for a while, to contest parliamentary elections. And that reminds us that in those days Phil was a rebel, a member of the Cilmeri group, along with Emrys Roberts, Ray Smith and others, who sought to modernise the party’s organisation and by the way clip Gwynfor’s wings somewhat in the process.

But let’s move on to green issues, beginning with another disappointing election result, that of the 1989 European election. Plaid Cymru had held high hopes but in three out of four constituencies, had been pushed into fourth place by the Green Party. I clearly remember Phil in the count in Swansea, deeply engrossed in a friendly and harmonious conversation with Barbara McPake, the Green candidate. It is easy to understand the harmony – Phil, as a space scientist had long been convinced of the overwhelming and terrifying significance of climate change. I remember him saying, in a meeting of scientists to discuss the latest news about climate change that the feeling was one of cold terror.

Some days before that election, the Wales Green Party had been invited to take part in a discussion session on Sunday morning during the 1989 Plaid Conference in Denbigh (the invitation to attend had been sent before the election). A working party was set up between the two parties to explore common ground, with Phil leading for Plaid Cymru. It was to meet regularly over a period of several months. Two important consequences flowed from this process.

1 Phil drafted a lengthy, detailed and remarkably radical motion on sustainable development to the 1990 Plaid conference in Cardiff. We can date the greening of Plaid Cymru, which has had a quite far-reaching impact on Welsh politics, more or less from that day.

2 The Plaid National Executive Committee authorised local constituency parties to establish electoral pacts with the Greens where there was local support. Local agreements were made in the South-east and in Ceredigion, where a striking victory was achieved in 1992, as a result of which I was obliged to undergo an extended period of national service in Westminster. This was all warmly welcomed by Phil – the readiness to work across party boundaries with people of like mind to bring about valuable gains chimed with his natural instincts. I remember him telling me as much with approval when we both cooperated in establishing a cross-party group on renewable energy in the National Assembly.

Like Phil, I had been convinced early on of the revolutionary significance of the green agenda and as a result we came to understand each other very well. It was of course an unequal relationship – he was the guru and I was the disciple who would ask questions and make occasional suggestions. When I got the opportunity to lead a debate on renewable energy in the House of Commons, Phil’s policy on renewable energy and Wales formed the substance of the speech.

I would like to turn for a minute to a different matter, a very significant one as well. During the period leading up to the establishment of the National Assembly in 1999 I was Plaid Cymru’s director of policy. One day a message came from Phil stating that Wales had never received a penny of European money. Uh? said I. What about the hundreds of thousands that had come to Wales under the Objective 5b programmes and so on? But Phil had immersed himself in the Welsh Office accounts and had discovered that every penny of the European funding received by Wales for social, economic and agri-environmental programmes had been clawed back in devious ways by the British Treasury. This was nothing short of a swindle that was replicated in a number of European countries – the central state using European funds to swell their own treasuries at the expense of the regions that were supposed to benefit, completely undermining the intention of the European Union to increase the economic prosperity of poorer areas.

When Phil became an Assembly Member in 1999 this was a matter of crucial importance, with Wales by now eligible for Objective 1 funding – many millions of pounds. There was no certainty, to put it mildly, that this European finance would be genuinely additional to the existing Welsh bloc, the National Assembly’s entire funding. Gordon Brown refused, and Alun Michael could not, guarantee that Objective 1 money would be additional. The result of this was that (1) the National Assembly deposed Alun Michael in February 2001 and (2) the Westminster Government yielded on the issue in a statement, if I remember correctly in July. Objective 1 funding would now be additional to the block grant. The Labour Party claimed the credit. However, but for Phil, it is safe to say that the Treasury would have carried on with their fraud, at least for a while. Consider seriously the loss that this would have involved to the Welsh economy under these circumstances.

Phil’s contribution to the work of the first Assembly, in which he served on the economic development committee, was outstanding. I remember how he would always prepare his speeches meticulously and rehearse them with care. He would work all hours of the day and night apart from the occasional solo on the saxophone which would echo down the corridors between 10 and 11. But I somehow think he experienced an element of disappointment with the lack of direction of the Government under Alun Michael and Rhodri Morgan. In the absence of any strategic direction, sustainable development was interpreted, not as an opportunity for Wales to take the lead in a number of new environmental sectors, but as a series of obstacles to development in the name of conservation and landscape protection. During those four years, for example, the growth of renewable energy was smothered rather than encouraged.

Despite that, being a member of the first National Assembly, no matter how restricted and unsatisfactory were its powers and internal capacity, was the pinnacle of his political career if not his life – and the fact that he gained this great privilege is a cause of happiness to those who came to know him – another great privilege.

Long may we cherish the memory of the brilliant and beloved Phil Williams.

This is a translation of the address to a meeting of the Plaid Cymru History Society delivered in the Cardiff National Eisteddfod, Thursday 9 August 2018

Remembering Phil Williams (1939 – 2003) in the Cardiff Eisteddfod

Plaid Cymru will celebrate the life of the late Professor Phil Williams, the party’s candidate in the Caerffili by-election fifty years ago with a special meeting in the Cardiff National Eisteddfod (at 11:45am, Thursday, 9 August 2018).

The meeting, organised by the Plaid Cymru History Society, will take place in the Eisteddfod’s Societies 3 room in the Senedd, Cardiff Bay.

“Phil Williams inspired a whole generation to realise what Wales could achieve – if we win the right as a nation to govern our own lives,” said the Plaid History chairman and former party general secretary Dafydd Williams.

Former Ceredigion MP and Assembly Member Cynog Dafis and Dafydd Williams will be leading discussion of Phil Williams’ contribution to Wales.

Translation facilities from Welsh to English will be available.

John Osmond’s New Novel

The 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 who want to understand the background of Plaid Cymru’s campaign for self-government for Wales.

John Osmond (right) with Plaid History chairman Dafydd Williams during a special fringe meeting in Plaid’s Spring Conference in Llangollen.

Author John Osmond (on the right) with Peter Finch in the new novel’s launch at the Senedd.

John Osmond Book Launch

Members of Plaid Cymru History Society are invited to the conference launch of the newly published novel ‘Ten Million Stars Are Burning’ in Plaid Cymru’s Spring Conference in the Pavilion, Llangollen at 4:45pm 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 referenda of 1979 and 1997, through the eyes of two fictional characters – and a host of real-life players! John will be in conversation with the Chair of the Society, Dafydd Williams.

Elwyn Roberts Lectures

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 that we should gather here on the Eisteddfod field in Anglesey, Ynys Môn, as he was also twice the organiser of the National Eisteddfod. For decades he lived in Bodorgan, although his roots were in Abergynolwyn, Meirionnydd. He was someone whose influence was to be felt throughout Wales.

As a nation we have cause not only to respect Elwyn’s memory but also to carry on the contribution which he made, as an inspiration to a new generation to roll up its sleeves and complete his heartfelt ambition. He was a practical nationalist who believed that victory would grow from a foundation of political organisation – through harnessing human and financial resources in the service of our nation’s highest goals.

I pondered whether I could do justice to this subject, wondering whether I really knew Elwyn Roberts. Perhaps many who worked with him would admit similar feelings, because Elwyn, as well as being a national figure and a political heavyweight, was also a very private man.

Elwyn was one of half a dozen who had a substantial influence on me personally, drawing me – from a young age – to work for Plaid Cymru. The other national influences were Gwynfor Evans and Saunders Lewis; locally in Gwynedd Dafydd Orwig and Wmffra Roberts; and of my own generation, the late and beloved Phil Williams. It is worth noting that among these three were the sons of slate quarrymen – Dafydd Orwig, Wmffra and, yes, Elwyn Roberts.

Elwyn was the son of Evan Gwernol Roberts, a quarryman in Abergynolwyn; his mother, Mabel, was headmistress of an infants’ school. Abergynolwyn was so important to him that his autobiography turned into a volume of history about Abergynolwyn – he never spoke about himself! Thus he takes pleasure in the book that it was through the endeavours of Plaid Cymru in the 70s that quarrymen at long last won the right to dust disease compensation.

Elwyn was born in 1905, and was a child of his generation. The shadow of the first world war rested heavily upon him, as did the revolution in Ireland and the depression in the heavy industries. He had no university education – indeed, he had little regard for the education he received in Tywyn grammar school, which for him was far too English. After leaving school he went to work in the bank, where he would remain for a quarter of a century, first in Blaenau Ffestiniog, then Bethesda – two quarrying communities – and later Llandudno, rising to the position of deputy manager at scarcely thirty years of age.

He could have risen to the heights in the world of banking, but the future of Wales was more important to him than career or wealth. He joined the National Party in its early days; at the age of twenty-one, he set up the Blaenau Ffestiniog branch – the biggest branch throughout the whole of Wales. Then, as throughout his career, he worked strenuously in the background, leaving others to enjoy the limelight.

When war came in 1939, Elwyn refused to enlist in the armed forces, basing his action on nationalism rather than pacifism. He refused to recognise the right of the English state to compel him to fight for it. One of the Tribunal members asked him “You are standing as a Welshman, are you?”. Elwyn answered, with his withering humour, and his totally contemptuous view of the English establishment, “No, as a Chinaman!” He was ordered to work as a rat catcher in the Corwen area.

During the war – at the instigation of Saunders Lewis and J.E. Daniel – the “Committee for the Defence of Welsh Culture” was set up – in the words of Gwynfor Evans, “the most important national movement that worked for Wales during the war”. Rallies were organised throughout Wales, and the most successful of all these took place at Colwyn Bay. Gwynfor enquired who was responsible for attracting such a crowd. He was told that a young bank clerk had achieved this miraculous turnout. This was the first time that Gwynfor met Elwyn; and a partnership was forged that would influence the future of our nation.

The bank must have thought highly of him, because despite his fervent nationalism he was able to return to the bank before the end of the war. When Gwynfor stood for Merioneth in the 1945 election, he requested the bank to release Elwyn to work as organiser; and the bank agreed! Rhys Evans, in his biography of Gwynfor talks of Elwyn starring as election agent – and I quote – “for his proverbial toughness”.

Elwyn returned to the bank after the election; but his organisational ability was now well known, and he received an invitation to work as the organiser of the Colwyn Bay National Eisteddfod, 1947 – getting the bank to release him once again! He was headhunted once more to work as organiser for the National Eisteddfod at Llanrwst in 1951. This time he did not return to the bank, and was appointed by Plaid Cymru as its Gwynedd organiser and Director of Finance.

Another call came – to organise the cross party Parliament for Wales campaign. When Elwyn took over, the campaign had been running for two years but had attracted only a few hundred names. Elwyn took up the reins with his characteristic dedication, and succeeded in raising the number of signatories to over a quarter of a million. This led to S.O. Davies MP presenting a Parliament for Wales Bill in Westminster in 1956.

In 1958, Elwyn organised a successful tour of the United States by Gwynfor Evans. Gwynfor took part in a broadcast seen by twenty million people; he was warmly welcomed by John L Lewis, the leader of the United Mineworkers of America; and Elwyn organised an invitation for Gwynfor to meet President Eisenhower – only for the British Embassy to obstruct it.

Other requests flowed in. When the television company Teledu Cymru hit financial difficulties in 1962, it was to Elwyn that the call came, and he succeeded in raising investments for the venture, the equivalent of £1 million in today’s money. Fund raising was one of Elwyn’s strengths: it was he, later on, who persuaded a wealthy businessman to employ Gwynfor as a consultant between 1970 and 1974, after losing Carmarthen – and when Gwynfor, to all intents and purposes, was financially on the rocks.

Elwyn was drawn into the battle to save the Clywedog valley from being drowned, and he devised a scheme for hundreds of people to buy a square yard of ground in the valley, so as to frustrate Birmingham Corporation – a scheme which unfortunately failed because of defective legal advice.

In 1964 Elwyn was appointed General Secretary of Plaid Cymru. He accepted the post – at a time of great difficulty for the party – on condition that he could work from the Bangor office.

It is fair to say that not everyone within the party could respond positively to Elwyn’s personality, to his “proverbial toughness” nor to the sort of “traditional” nationalism that he represented; nor to his conservative orthodoxy from the standpoint of handling money. A great deal has been written about the tension between Emrys Roberts, who until 1964 worked as Plaid Cymru’s General Secretary in the Cardiff office, and Elwyn Roberts, the party’s finance director,who worked from the Bangor office. I could personally see great virtues in both of them, and they each contributed much to the success of Plaid Cymru in their different ways.

Elwyn played a key role in a number of campaigns, including the Carmarthen by-election in 1966, where he worked with the Agent, Cyril Jones. Elwyn ensured the resources to carry the day. And it was Elwyn who had the privilege of telling Gwynfor, as he arrived at the count, that he had won!

Elwyn Roberts held the post of General Secretary of Plaid Cymru through the most incredible period in its history – the by-elections in Carmarthen, Rhondda West in 1967, Caerffili in 1968, and through the frenzy of the Investiture in 1969, before retirement in 1971. Immediately after retiring – as though he had not already done enough for Plaid Cymru, Elwyn took over the unpaid post of National Treasurer of the party.

As part of this job, he set about organising fund raising through nosweithiau llawen and pop concerts – Tribannau Pop! I cannot imagine anyone less likely than Elwyn, in his grey top coat, his hat and his briefcase, as organiser of rock ‘n roll events in the 70s . But he raised thousands of pounds for the cause, and it was he who laid the financial foundations for the elections of 1974 when Plaid won three seats in Westminster.

Perhaps election organisation created a wish to take part in politics himself, because soon after retirement he was elected as County Councillor in Ynys Môn, and then to the new council of Gwynedd in 1973. He remained as a councillor until 1985 – playing a prominent role in improving the economy of Gwynedd.

I first met Elwyn in 1962. I was a student in Manchester and had just joined Plaid Cymru. During one university holiday, I attended a meeting of Caernarfon branch in the People’s Café – on the Maes in the town. Elwyn was speaking there and I mention in my book “O ddifri” how he entered in a purposeful way with a bulging brief-case. He had come, not to talk niceties, still less to socialise, but rather to give us directions. He was the one who set the agenda and the priorities, like some Soviet Commissar.

Soon afterwards, I called in his office in Bangor and that was an experience. He organised the work like a machine and was complete master of everything and everyone as I am sure Nans Couch – Nans Gruffydd as she was then – could testify from personal experience.

Elwyn had little time for fools – and he made that pretty clear. But if he saw that someone had a contribution to make to the national movement, then nothing was too much trouble for him. He decided fairly soon that I had something to offer – and he took a great interest in everything I would do for a number of years.

He was behind my appointment to work as organiser for the Caernarfon constituency from June to October 1964, after I graduated and before I started work, a period leading up to the general election of 1964. Earlier he had suggested that – after graduation – I should look for a job in the South Wales Valleys to get to know Wales better. When he heard that I wanted to go to work with the Ford Motor Company in Dagenham, for a while he was disgusted – apparently I had angered him because he thought I would vanish from the party and from Welsh politics, as was the story of so many young men at that time.

His fears were confirmed after he and Wmffra Roberts sought to persuade me to stand in Caernarfon in the general election of March 1966. I flatly refused to consider anything of the kind – after all I was just twenty-two years old, and it was far too early for me. But Elwyn had planted the idea in my mind that I should prepare myself for such a possibility in the future.

When I saw Elwyn in Carmarthen on the last Saturday before the 1966 by-election, his attitude towards me remained frosty, to say the least. He sent me out canvassing with scarcely a word – I was really in his “bad books”! But when I returned to report the substantial support in the town, he had thawed. He said that this was the response throughout the constituency – and lowering his voice, in case anyone should hear, he whispered “I think Gwynfor’s going to win”.

In the wake of the by-election, a number of us – Phil Williams, Dafydd Williams, Eurfyl ap Gwilym, Gareth Morgan Jones, Rod Evans and others – set about forming the Plaid Cymru Research Group – to assist Gwynfor with aspects of his parliamentary work, and to prepare an Economic Plan for Wales. This pleased Elwyn enormously – and without any persuasion he provided a budget of some fifty pounds a month to enable us to rent a very small office and employ a part time typist.

Having failed to get me to contest Caernarfon, Elwyn persuaded the Meirionnydd Rhanbarth Committee to invite me to stand there in the 1970 election, although I was living in London and working for the Mars company in Slough. Elwyn provided practical support for me from the party’s national resources.

By 1972 I had returned to live in Wales, working for the Hoover company in Merthyr and had been elected to Merthyr council – it was as if Elwyn’s long -term plan for me had at last been pushed through as he had intended. When I was elected for Caernarfon, he once more gave me every support as he did when I stood to succeed Gwynfor as President.

Yet although Elwyn proved such a mainstay of support for me, and considered me to be something of a protégé, I cannot claim to have really known him – only once did I call at his home in Bodorgan – just to collect some papers – and I hardly ever had any conversation with his wife Nansi. Such a person was Elwyn; and there was no alternative but accept him for what he was – because nothing would change him. He was like the rock of ages, consistent, firm, genuine and completely dedicated to Wales.

It is right that today we should remember his life, because Plaid Cymru and our nation are greatly in his debt: Elwyn Roberts, “Y graig safadwy drwy dymhestloedd” – “The rock that stands firm through the tempests”; the sort of rock that is hiddden under the surface of the land, but which is so vital if we are to build the future of our nation on firm foundations. Thank you for listening and thanks for his life.

Elwyn the Man

Reminiscences by Gwynn Matthews

I am grateful for the invitation to share my memories of Elwyn, and to Dafydd Wigley for the notable portrait he gave us. Who could add to that picture of Elwyn as a national figure? I am not going to attempt to do so – what I am going to do is speak of Elwyn the man – the man so many people have found it difficult to penetrate below the outer skin.

I first met Elwyn in 1961. I was a schoolboy at the time, and the circumstances of our meeting were not of the happiest, for I had received a summons to appear before him at a Pwyllgor Rhanbarth!

I had set up a school branch of Plaid Cymru at Denbigh Grammar School early in the sixties. We would meet during the dinner break in various classrooms unbeknown to the staff. This was possible because I wore a ‘Prefect’ badge (enabling me to allow pupils into the building) – but the trouble was that teachers were able to come by, open the door and enquire “What’s going on here, then?” If the teacher was English, I could just say, “Oh, it’s the Welsh Society, Sir”. And that would be fine. Once, the Religious Education teacher came and asked me if I was conducting a prayer meeting – and I regret to have to tell you that I said that I was!

In fact, there was a risk that we would be caught, but eventually we were allowed to use the Plaid office in town. However, someone complained that children were coming and going to and from the office and causing a commotion. So, I was summoned to give an account of myself and my fellow pupils before none other than Mr Elwyn Roberts.

Those of you who knew Elwyn can imagine what it felt like to appear before him! I fully understood – you can’t waffle with him. But, in fact, he found in our favour and said that we were free to use the office from then on.

Some years later, in 1968, as Dafydd Williams said, I was appointed a member of Plaid staff. I had my interview in Pwllheli following Robyn Lewis’s adoption meeting. Elwyn approached me at the end of the rally – “Right” he said, “I want you to help me fill the car boot with these pamphlets.” As I filled the boot, he asked me questions. When I had filled the boot, he said, “You’ve got the job”. That was the shortest interview of my life.

As Dafydd Wigley has said, he was a private man. And I would say that he was really a shy man. Maybe, he had a facade that shy people often adopt which gives the impression that they are less warm than they truly are. Basically, Elwyn was a warm person.

And as Dafydd Wigley has commented, when he did have some leisure time, he did not write about himself but about his native locality – the community that gave him his values. [Wrth Odre Cadair Idris] He writes about his childhood, and one sentence is quite a surprise. He refers to his school, and to a teacher of whom he was very fond, Mr Fielding. Mr Fielding’s family had come from the Netherlands, but he spoke Welsh.

And this is the sentence that struck me as unexpected: “I recall some of the lessons in arithmetic, although I hated the subject.” Says he, the conjurer with figures! The man who could conjure money from the air – and he hated arithmetic! He states that Welsh and local history were much more to his taste. Yes, love of patrimony was the foundation for his patriotism, and as Dafydd Wigley has described it, slightly old world patriotism. I would agree – his values were those of a Nonconformist Welsh-speaking Wales.

I recall that at a conference in the early seventies one of the Rhondda branches had proposed a motion calling on Plaid to set up licensed clubs. Only two speakers’ cards had been submitted – proposer and seconder. Elwyn came up to me and said, “Gwynn, you must speak!” I had not intended to speak but he insisted, “You must speak against this! Good heavens, what do you think the supporters of Goronwy Roberts, the great teetotaller, will make of this in Arfon if we pass this motion?”. And so it was that I had to speak, with two minutes’ notice, against setting up licensed clubs. The motion failed, but not because of anything I said!

Another aspect of his Nonconformist values was his pacifism. I know that it was as a nationalist that he objected to doing military service, but he could well have done so as a pacifist too.

I remember one occasion during the run-up to the Investiture when the late ROF Wynne (Garthewin) had expressed an allegedly ambiguous attitude concerning the use of violence in struggles for national freedom. A fairly prominent Plaid member spoke up in defence of ROF Wynne. Elwyn was incensed. “Him! Him of all people! If he saw a real gun, he’d wet himself!”

Elwyn could get quite cross, that has to be admitted. I remember returning from an Eisteddfod where Elwyn had been very cross with one of the party’s most faithful workers, Nans Jones. (I’m bound to say that, of the staff, it was Nans Jones who seemed to irritate Elwyn most often.) When Elwyn had gone to Y Ddraig Goch stand (in the days when political parties were banned from the Maes) what did he see under the table but copies of JE Jones’s gardening book [JE was a former Plaid General Secretary]. What Nans had been doing when she saw anyone who knew JE approach was to offer them the gardening book – rather than party literature! “And in any case”, said Elwyn, “when did JE ever find time to do gardening?”

Elwyn had been a National Eisteddfod organiser twice. [Llanrwst Eisteddfod, 1951, was one of them] One Monday he arranged for Cynan to come to Llanrwst to inspect the Gorsedd Circle as the architects had been arranging the stones in the order stipulated for them (before the advent of plastic stones – i.e. real rocks) the previous week. However, over the weekend the farmer had allowed bullocks to graze on the site. And here are Elwyn’s words, “Do you know what, the bullocks were lifting their tails against the stones – Cynan was enraged! ‘Don’t you realize’, said Cynan, ‘that those atones are sacred?’” It was clear from his expression as he told the story that Elwyn had a sense of the absurd.

One day we were discussing cars. Among the jobs that Elwyn had done was selling second hand cars. I’m sure he was a good one – he had the knack of parting people from their money – as he did many years later as Plaid’s Treasurer! He sold cars for a businessman from Colwyn Bay, Mr Bill Knowles.

Bill Knowles was quite a character, a prominent Tory, and he became Mayor of Colwyn Bay. (As it happens, during the sixties he joined Plaid Cymru, and served as chairman of Denbigh Pwyllgor Rhanbarth.) Coming back to our chat, Elwyn said, “Gwynn, if ever the radiator of your car leaks, I know how to settle it. You need to pour a packet of pepper into it, and that will seal it – something Bill Knowles taught me!” Second hand car salesmen do not always have a good reputation, but if you asked me would I buy a second car from Elwyn I would answer, “Yes, oh yes!”

I think that he could sometimes be over cautious – two small examples. A research group, under Dewi Watcyn Powell I believe, had prepared a constitution for a free Wales (for which a conference was held at the Temple of Peace for its adoption). One point that was raised was what to call the Crown’s representative. ‘Viceroy’ was out of the question, and there was a feeling that ‘Governor-General’ was too imperialist. So they suggested ‘First Citizen’. Elwyn thought that too elitist for Plaid.

“Can you think, Gwynn, of another title for the head of something?”

“Well, the ceremonial head of a University is called a Chancellor,” I said.

“Yes, I like it – Chancellor of Wales,”

“Come to think of it,” I said, “that is what the prime minister of Germany is called”.

“Good heavens – we can’t have that! Just think what the Daily Post would make of it!”

So, ‘First Citizen’ it was!

One day, I recall, we were discussing family life, I suppose, and he discovered that I was an Anglican. He felt he needed to explain something to me.

Those days every political party was invited to some place of worship on the Sunday before their conference. It had been arranged in advance, of course, who would extend the invitation.

“I must admit that I have never sought an invitation to attend a church service [i.e. as distinct from a chapel service], and I should explain why. The reason is that a church service includes a prayer for the Queen, and I’m afraid of some hothead walking out during the service – what would the papers make of that?”

Yes, over cautious, sometimes, perhaps.

But what are the lasting impressions of him? Discipline, tenacity and integrity.

Discipline – personal discipline, work discipline. If you pulled your weight, Elwyn would not be slow to express appreciation. But if he was disappointed, he would let it be known! I disappointed him once – I failed my driving test. “Damn you!”

Tenacity – perseverance in the face of difficulties. I remember summer 1969 (the summer of the Investiture) – it was a frightfully difficult period – and one of Elwyn’s main fears was that the Summer Raffle would fail! The Summer Raffle was important – it funded our wages – but Elwyn kept his nerve.

Finally, and supremely, integrity. A genuine man. I have worked for a number of people – some of them very good people – but I retain the highest respect, on account of his unsparing dedication, for Elwyn.

Elwyn Roberts

A tribute by Dafydd Williams

I got to know Elwyn Roberts after joining Plaid Cymru’s staff – supposedly for just twelve months – almost half a century ago, in December 1967. I had met him already on a number of occasions in the party conference and Summer School, as well as one never to be forgotten day shortly before the Carmarthen by-election in 1966. But it was in Plaid Cymru’s office in Pendre, Bangor that I saw the man himself at his daily work. He would be there without fail every morning, and usually would be hard at it well after the clock on the wall told us it was time to be going home.

It was an exciting time. In the wake of the Carmarthen by-election, and Rhondda West the following year, and with Gwynfor in the House of Commons, new members were flocking in, and the aim was to channel that growth into an effective pattern of branches and constituency organisations. As General Secretary and Chief Organiser – that was his job title – Elwyn Roberts had the job of dealing with all the issues that accompanied that rapid growth, and a steady stream of callers who would drop in.

I soon came to see that it took someone of exceptional talent, experience and character to occupy that key role. Someone who would keep the ship on course whatever the weather. And there was no doubt that Elwyn Roberts was that person. Of course he worked in the background. Although he was fully capable of addressing councils or conferences if need be, the public stage was not his natural environment.

I still have a vivid picture of him, at his desk in his sports jacket – it wasn’t often that he took that off – and a handkerchief neatly folded in his top pocket. Working with him at that time in Bangor was a young woman from the Llŷn peninsula, Nans Gruffydd – by now Nans Couch. Nans is unable to be with us today because of family duties, but I am very grateful for her recollections.

This is how Nans recalls Elwyn Roberts: “He was definitely one of my heroes in Plaid Cymru and it was a privilege to work with him. Elwyn was someone who went the second mile – a tireless worker who gave up his career in the bank in order to serve his nation. He was the strongest influence on me … working with Elwyn was better than any college”.

Elwyn was fond of his tea. Just about every hour in the afternoon, it seemed, both of us would hear his voice from the back room: “Is there something warm in the teapot?” And – cue a confession! – it was Nans who would put her work to one side and prepare another pot of tea. This was 1967, remember!

Of course, long before either Nans or I came on the scene, Elwyn had already given decades of his life to Wales and Plaid Cymru – and through times of great difficulty. For example:

Elwyn served as election organiser to Gwynfor Evans in Meirionnydd in 1945, winning praise for his “proverbial hardness” as agent according to the author Rhys Evans – by the way, during that campaign, he arranged a public meeting before the memorial to Hedd Wyn in Trawsfynydd – at 11:30pm in the night!
Ten years later in 1955 – released by Plaid Cymru to rescue the struggling Parliament for Wales campaign, and succeeding as well.
Or this – in 1961, raising £62,525 to launch Teledu Cymru.

And there is no way I can relate all his work in raising funds to keep Plaid Cymru from going bankrupt – time after time and in all sorts of ways. No wonder that in Rhys Evans’ magisterial biography of Gwynfor Evans he gets 45 mentions.

In 1971, and quite unexpectedly, I became the successor to this unique figure in the history of Plaid Cymru, following a walk on the prom in Aberystwyth with Gwynfor, but that is another story! How on earth could I hope to fill his shoes? I knew there was no way I could imitate him.

But fortunately for me and the party, if Elwyn was retiring as General Secretary, his contribution to Plaid Cymru was far from being over. In the same year, his was elected as party Treasurer – a post he had in reality been doing for years. And, however much some of you may doubt it, thanks to his hard graft in an improved political atmosphere Plaid’s financial situation markedly improved.

He went on to carve out a whole new career as an elected member of Gwynedd County Council representing Bodorgan here in Anglesey and holding a number of public posts – among them the Development Corporation for Wales and Gwynedd Health Authority.

I was fortunate enough to call at his home a number of times – a bungalow named Peniarth on the corner of a small rural lane in the village of Bodorgan, with a grouted roof in the style familiar in Anglesey (I heard a lot about ‘grouting’!) and an immaculate interior. I was sure of a warm welcome and every kindness from Elwyn and his wife Nansi – it is sad to think that Elwyn spent the last years of his wife without her lively company.

I learnt of his death when I phoned Gwerfyl in the national office the day before his funeral while on holiday with my parents in Scotland, and unable to get back in time for his funeral. It was a comfort to visit his last resting place in Abergynolwyn a few months later.

I would like to end with an appeal. There is a real need to set down the history of this unique hero – the banker who became organiser of a national movement. The raw material is ready – volume upon volume of his papers in the National Library, and no shortage of red ink! It is a story worth telling – a subject worthy of a PhD and a book to follow. What about it, you historians?

For my generation, and the younger generation, the story of Elwyn Roberts is an inspiration – and a challenge. The success of Plaid Cymru today, whatever the difficulties, stem from the seeds planted by Elwyn and his contemporaries.

It is difficult to believe that his time came to an end nearly a decade before our country won the battle to secure its own national assembly. He would have been overjoyed – and would have given anything to played his part in that victory. We give thanks for his life and his work.

Mary Jones 1949 – 2017

An Example to All

Elfyn Llwyd pays tribute to Mary Jones

Mary always brought joy into people’s lives. She could also be fierce – especially towards the enemies of Plaid Cymru, a cause very close to her heart. Mary, however busy she was, always found time to work for Plaid. During her life, Mary was:

Chair of Cylch Meithrin Llanrwst
Secretary of Ysgol Bro Gwydir Parents Teachers Association for seven years
One of the founders of Clwb Gwerin Sgidiau Hoelia and she organised all the activities of Llanrwst Young Farmers’ Club, ensuring that they won the Rali Eryri twice
For 23 years she ran the café in Llanrwst Market, Paned a Gwȇn – she always said that you had to pay for the cuppa but the smile was free!
Enthusiastic member of Llanrwst Show committee and the Chair in 2010

Mary always gave her best. She was a committed follower of Manchester United Football Club and as a token of respect, a letter arrived a few days after she passed away. Here is an extract from that letter,

“I just want to write to you to thank you for your loyal support and devotion to the club. I understand that you are having a difficult time but hope that it helps to know that myself, the players and staff are all thinking of you. Jose Mourinho.”

As someone who lives in Dyffryn Conwy I was aware of Mary’s hard work over the years but after I was nominated to stand for the 1992 election I worked closely with her and was the recipient of many a wise word. She would phone me to say that there was an important Market in Llanrwst so that I could meet as many of the local farmers as possible. At other times she would tell me not to bother talking to one or two, “Bloody Tory – a waste of time!”

She was always the first out with leaflets and canvassing. Politicians talk of those who walk the extra mile – she was the best example I know of, and if she undertook any task – we knew it would be done.

I remember on one or two occasions, being exhausted after a hard day of canvassing, and ready to give up for the day, Mary saying, “only two other estates – come with me”. Who could refuse? Her tireless work was an example to all.

I had a chat with her in August at the Llanrwst Show. Although she was seriously ill she had a ready smile as usual.

I’m pleased to say that Mary did know that she was to be honoured by Plaid during the Conference in Caernarfon. She was thrilled. Plaid has lost a faithful and strong member and everyone who had the privilege of knowing her has lost a very dear friend.

Janice Dudley 1944 – 2017

‘A Truly Inspirational Woman’

Dai Lloyd AM pays tribute to Janice Dudley

Plaid Cymru lost an unique member earlier this year with the death of the inspirational and hardworking Councillor from Neath Port Talbot, Janice Dudley. Janice worked tirelessly for Plaid Cymru for many years.

In 2004, she joined the group of Plaid Cymru elected representatives following her election as councillor on Neath Port Talbot Council, representing South Bryncoch ward. She represented her area with vigour and enthusiasm and this was recognised by the local residents who re-elected her continuously.

This local support was visible in May again this year, with the residents of Bryncoch ensuring that Janice had a huge majority over the Labour Party. But this level of support was no surprise – Janice was a truly inspirational woman, always energetic and positive. This warm personality attracted people from every background, young and old, from all political parties.

Janice was honoured this year for years of local work when she became the Mayor of Neath Port Talbot Borough Council. Janice of course fulfilled the role in her own passionate and dignified manner.

Since her death, many people have paid tribute to Janice, and the huge respect that people had for her has become evident.

During the Plaid Cymru Annual Conference in Caernarfon, Amanda, Janice’s daughter, received the ‘Special Contribution’ award on behalf of her mother, for her years of hard work on behalf of Plaid Cymru. I was honoured to present that award in acknowledgement of the unique work of a prominent member in the area, but also for someone who was also a personal friend.

Janice’s death has been a huge blow locally, but as colleagues and friends, we are determined to do everything within our ability to ensure that her legacy continues in South Bryncoch and beyond.

Jim Criddle 1947 – 2017

A 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 project. The children remember Jim’s golden rules for leafleting, including always leave the gate as you find it, don’t annoy the dogs and NEVER EVER climb over walls between gardens – no matter how many steps you have to go up and down!

Wherever work for Plaid was needed, there you would find Jim – leafleting, canvassing, running the branch, working for the Credit Union – it wasn’t the task that mattered to Jim, it was the cause.

As well as his work for Plaid and as a councillor, his teaching job and his family commitments, Jim, with Rhian, was a passionate campaigner for Welsh medium education in Gwent. It was quite a struggle, but they won. I’ll never forget how proud Jim was when Ysgol Gyfun Gwynlliw opened.

Jim loved his family, he loved his community, and he loved Wales. He worked quietly for the causes he believed in. He died too soon. His family, friends and colleagues will always remember this gentle giant. Wales needs more Jim Criddles.

Tributes to Plaid Cymru ‘Anchor Man’

Tributes have been paid at this year’s National Eisteddfod in Ynys Môn 2017 to Elwyn Roberts – one of the key figures in the development of Plaid Cymru during the 20th century.

In a session arranged by the Plaid Cymru History Society the party’s Honorary President Dafydd Wigley said that Elwyn Roberts was an inspiration to a new generation.

“He was a wholly practical nationalist who believed that success would be based on a sound political foundation”, he said.

Brought up in Abergynolwyn, Meirionnydd Elwyn Roberts was the son of a quarryman. He worked for a bank after leaving school and became a member of Plaid Cymru in its early days – setting up a party branch at Blaenau Ffestiniog that became the biggest in Wales.

He was allowed leave by the bank on several occasions – to act as Gwynfor Evans’ election agent in Meirionnydd in 1945 and then to work for the National Eisteddfod before becoming Plaid Cymru’s Gwynedd organiser and finance director in 1951.

In the session to recall his career tributes were also paid by the author Gwynn Matthews and former Plaid General Secretary Dafydd Williams. And Cyril Jones, who served as election agent to Gwynfor Evans in the Carmarthen by-election in 1966, recalled the key role Elwyn Roberts played in winning Plaid Cymru’s first ever seat in the House of Commons.

The audience heard how Elwyn Roberts’ work rescued Plaid Cymru from bankruptcy on a number of occasions. And Dafydd Wigley related how Elwyn Roberts was called upon to run the cross-party Parliament for Wales campaign in the 1950s.

“When Elwyn took over responsibility, the petition had been running for two years but had secured only a few hundred names. Elwyn took hold of the reins with his customary dedication, and succeeded in raising the total to over a quarter of a million.”