1997
A second Referendum on devolution – Wales votes Yes!
1999
First National Assembly of Wales elections – Plaid Cymru win 17 seats.
June 1999
Two Members of the European Parliament elected – Jill Evans and Eurig Wyn
2007
Plaid Cymru in government for the first time, as part of a coalition
1974
Plaid Cymru wins three Parliamentary seats in the October election – Dafydd Wigley (Caernarfon), Gwynfor Evans (Carmarthen) and Dafydd Elis Thomas (Meirionnydd)
1976
Strong results in local government elections, Plaid Cymru control Merthyr
1979
Referendum on devolution – Wales votes No
1982
After a long campaign S4C starts transmitting Welsh language television programmes
1945
Gwynfor Evans elected President of Plaid Cymru
1953
Start of the Parliament for Wales campaign – 240,652 support the petition
1955
Cwm Tryweryn campaign against the drowning of the Welsh speaking village of Capel Celyn
14 July 1966
Gwynfor Evans wins the Carmarthen seat to become the first Plaid Cymru MP in an historic by-election
15 August 1925
Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru (the Welsh National Party) established at Pwllheli
1929
Lewis Valentine gains 629 votes in Plaid Cymru’s first Parliamentary Election
1936
Burning the bombing school at Penyberth, Llŷn and prison sentences for the three Plaid leaders – Saunders Lewis, Lewis Valentine and DJ Williams
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.”