Category: Activities

Gweithgareddau y Gymdeithas. Society Activites

Remembering Harri Webb 1920 -1994

The 100th anniversary of the birth of the celebrated nationalist poet Harri Webb has been marked with the laying of flowers at his grave at St Mary’s Church, Pennard, Gower (12 noon Monday 7 September 2020). 

Harri Webb was born in Swansea at 45 Tycoch Road and grew up in Catherine Street near the centre of the city.  His family had strong links with the Gower peninsula.

He became a leading figure in Plaid Cymru, editing the party’s newspaper Welsh Nation and standing as its candidate at Pontypool in the general election of 1970.

Harri Webb came to prominence as a poet during the 1960s, when political nationalism was beginning to make headway in the industrial valleys of South Wales, and became a regular contributor to the magazine Poetry Wales.

The gathering at Pennard was told by Emeritus Professor Prys Morgan that Harri Webb had succeeded in achieving great popularity as a poet.

“His work was mainly through the medium of the English language, but no-one was a more warm-hearted Welshman than Harri Webb”.

Flowers were laid at the grave by Guto Ap Gwent, Kittle.


Guto Ap Gwent and Professor Prys Morgan at the grave of Harri Webb
after the ceremony in St Mary’s Church, Pennard

The ceremony was promoted by the Plaid Cymru History Society and Swansea and Gower Plaid Cymru with the kind cooperation of the Rev Peter Brooks, Vicar of the Parish of Three Cliffs, and conducted in adherence with current social distancing regulations.

 

Full details of the life of Harri Webb may be found at:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-harri-webb-1566453.html

 

 

 

1970 Merthyr Election

S.O. – CHARACTER AND WELSHMAN

S.O. Davies was Labour MP for Merthyr Tydfil from 1934 to 1970. He was first elected in a by-election following the death of the local ILP MP with 51% of the vote (against the Liberal, ILP candidate and Communist) and 68% in the 1935 general election against the ILP only. But for the rest of his career, he received support from percentages ranging between 74% and 81%. The Plaid candidates who opposed him in the 50s and 60s were Trevor Morgan (as an independent nationalist), Ioan Bowen Rees and Meic Stephens.

But before the 1970 election a reporter with the Merthyr Express had a look at a list of potential Labour candidates throughout England, Wales and Scotland. The name of S.O. Davies was there, with the * symbol next to him. The correspondent asked the printers what its significance was and got the answer that it meant ‘not re-adopted’ as the local party was in the process of selecting SO’s successor, although there was no discussion between them and him about the decision. The Merthyr Express announced this shocking news of the release of one who had served his people as a local councilor, mayor and Member of Parliament for tens of years.

The rest is a myth. S.O. as an ‘Independent Labour’ candidate (which would not be legally possible today), winning 51% of the vote against the official Labour Tal Lloyd (another former mayor). By a strange coincidence, these are the exact percentages (rounded) that S.O. and his liberal opponent received in the 1935 by-election. Plaid Cymru’s annual conference was held at Cyfarthfa Castle in 1958 and Tal Lloyd, in his capacity as the mayor, officially welcomed the members to the borough.

Chris Rees was Plaid Cymru’s candidate in 1970. He once told me that he did not only congratulate S.O. but added that it was the first time he could say how proud he was that he hadn’t won himself! And I know of at least one member of the Party who helped S.O. in his campaign.

S.O. Davies was a patriot. In the Wikipedia entry about him it is said: Largely indifferent to party discipline, he defied official Labour policy by championing such causes as disarmament and Welsh nationalism.  He supported the Parliamentary petition for Wales movement in the 1950s, joining the speakers on stage at a rally organized by Plaid Cymru in Cardiff in September 1953 (see photo on page 297 of Tros Cymru, JE and Plaid by JE Jones, 1970). And in 1955 he introduced his ‘Government of Wales’ measure in the House of Commons, which was prepared with the help of party experts. But as expected, his attempt was unsuccessful.

Here is one interesting part of the debate on the floor of the House. S.O. said that support for the measure comes from ‘Monmouthshire, Cardiff, West —‘. George Thomas (MP for Cardiff West) interrupted him saying: ‘The hon. Gentleman won’t get much support there ‘. S.O. finished his sentence masterfully: ‘— Rhondda, and other places’.

S.O. Davies died in 1972, and the by-election was won for Labour by Ted Rowlands with 48.5% of the vote, the Plaid Cymru candidate Emrys Roberts gained 37%.

PHILIP LLOYD

 

The Reverend Fred Jones (1877-1948) one of the 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.

 

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.

 

The Life of Wynne Samuel

Pioneer Patriot – The Life of Wynne Samuel

‘A man of immense talent who worked heart and soul for Wales’ – that is the thumbnail sketch of Wynne Samuel, one of Plaid’s early champions.  It comes from the opening lines of this portrait of a pioneer nationalist – at one time considered a potential leader of Wales’ national movement.

This tribute by Plaid History chairman Dafydd Williams traces the course of Wynne’s extraordinary career, and for the first time publishes a number of new photographs and documents.  It is based on an illustrated lecture delivered at Plaid Cymru’s conference in Cardigan on Friday 5 October 2018, but has been substantially amended and expanded.  You can read it here.

Link > Life of Wynne SAMUEL

1967 Rhondda By-election Remembered

NEW LIGHT ON RHONDDA POLL

Many thanks to the family of the late Vic Davies, Rhondda, for donating to Plaid History a truly inspirational collection of material concerning the Rhondda West by-election that took place over half a century ago.

The collection includes a scrapbook of press cuttings that recall the dramatic contest in 1967 when Vic Davies succeeded in slashing Labour’s towering majority from seventeen thousand to just 2,306 votes, a swing of 29 per cent to Plaid Cymru.

1967 Rhondda By-election

There are a number of valuable telegrams and letters, including congratulations from Plaid Cymru president Gwynfor Evans, who had been returned as MP for Carmarthen the previous year.

1967 Llongyfarch Vic Davies

The collection also includes a letter from the SNP’s Dr Andrew Lees of Bearsden near Glasgow inviting Vic Davies to travel to Scotland to support Winifred Ewing’s campaign in the Hamilton by-election – in particular by accompanying her down a local coal mine.  Winnie Ewing had met Vic a few weeks previously in the Plaid Conference in Dolgellau.

It is clear from the contents of the collection that Vic accepted the invitation, went down the coal mine and also addressed a by-election rally.  A handwritten letter from Winnie Ewing dated 2 October 1967 expresses her gratitude for his support and for helping make the events successful.  Four weeks later, Winnie Ewing went on to win Hamilton and join Gwynfor in Westminster.

After copying items for Plaid History purposes, the collection will be sent to the National Library in Aberystwyth to form an important part of the Plaid Cymru archive.

The Syd Morgan Interview

Syd Morgan has been closely involved in Plaid Cymru’s struggle for five decades – since the days he ran a nationalist magazine in Swansea University in the 1960s.  He gave up a post in university administration to become a full-time organiser for the party in the Rhymney Valley – and one of the councillors who formed one of the first Plaid administrations in the South Wales valleys.  You can hear more about his work for the national movement in this interview with Plaid History chairman Dafydd Williams here.

Syd Morgan (on the left, above), Plaid candidate in the Pontypridd by-election, February, 1989  

New Novel Charts Course To Devolution

New Novel Charts Course To Devolution

Book review by Dafydd Williams, Plaid Cymru General Secretary, 1971-1993 and Chairman of the Plaid Cymru History Association

If you want to know about the crucial decades leading up to the successful 1997 devolution referendum, this is the book for you.  ‘Ten Million Stars Are Burning’ is the enigmatic title of the newly published novel by the well known writer and political commentator John Osmond. 

Osmond sets himself an ambitious task – to tell how the people of Wales struggled to come to terms with their identity during the last quarter of the twentieth century; and in particular how the disaster of 1979 turned into the hard-won victory of 1997.

To accomplish this, he uses the vehicle of a documentary novel, with two main fictional characters – along with a host of real-life players, who speak to us from the past in their own words, as recorded in interview and archive material.  This is the first of a trilogy, and covers the period between 1973 and 1979. 

There are heroes and villains galore, over two hundred of them.  On the side of the angels, there is Gwynfor Evans, with his never-failing optimism together with the brilliant though sceptical Phil Williams (sceptical about the good intentions of the Labour Party, that is).

 

Among the villains there’s a starring role for Leo Abse, whom Osmond came to know well (and a detailed picture of how Abse’s firm of solicitors profited from the leasehold system in the valleys while the chief partner inveighed against its iniquity).  Sometimes I still have to pinch myself to believe that ultimately the visionary Gwynfor’s team prevailed against the cunning Abse.

Leo Abse

I personally knew quite a few of the actors in this tangled drama, and can testify to the historical accuracy of a number of events I witnessed. 

The result is a fascinating blow-by-blow account of the struggle for self-government; and since John Osmond himself played a central role in those events, we are entitled to conclude a considerable element of autobiography in the character of the main fictional character, Western Mail journalist Owen James.  In fact I have a funny feeling someone using that soubriquet used to contribute to the Welsh Nation!

One thing is certain – this novel is required reading for everyone interested in the background of Plaid Cymru’s campaign for a free Wales.  I can’t wait for the next two.

‘Ten Million Stars Are Burning’ by John Osmond is published by Gomer, price £11.99.

 

Plaid Remembers Wynne Samuel

A 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.

Dr Wynne Samuel in 1965, at the time of his appointment as chief officer of Tenby Borough Council 

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 society chairman Dr Dafydd Williams.

” Wynne Samuel was one of the towering figures of 20th century Plaid Cymru”, said Dr Williams, who served as the party’s general secretary between 1971 and 1993.  “It is high time his outstanding service to Wales and our local communities was accorded proper recognition”. 

The lecture takes place at 4:30pm, Friday 5 October 2018 during the party’s annual conference at Theatr Mwldan, Cardigan.  It will be delivered in Welsh with simultaneous translation into English.

Hanes Plaid Cymru