‘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.
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.
Gordon was a great friend of Wales and a totally committed nationalist. We had met in the 1965 Plaid Cymru summer school in Machynlleth when he was National Secretary of the SNP, and he visited Wales on many occasions. We were both elected to Westminster in February 1974 and were colleagues during the fraught days of the 1978 Devolution Acts and the 1979 Referenda when the iniquitous 40% rule prevented Scotland from getting their National Assembly, although a majority of those voting in Scotland had supported it. In the following election, after the downfall of the Callaghan government, the SNP lost 9 of their 11 seats – with just Gordon and Donald Stewart surviving, as colleagues for Dafydd Elis Thomas and myself. We continued to argue the case for our two nations, until Gordon lost his Dundee seat in 1987. By then Margaret Ewing and Andrew Welsh had regained their seats, and they were joined by Alex Salmond, leading to the campaign that eventually, in 1997, secured our respective parliaments. Gordon was a key person, at a critical time, in the emergence of the SNP as a major parliamentary party. Modern-day Scotland owes him a debt of gratitude and we in Wales salute his memory.
Howard belonged to one of the best known families of Cwmaman and beyond. His great grandfather was the poet Isaac Edmunds (Alaw Sylen), Abercwm-boi, whose poems appeared for years in the Welsh papers of the area (Y Gwladgarwr and Darian). The poet’s daughter, and Howard’s grandmother Howard was one of the most famous artists in Cwm Cynon and Cwmaman: a woman known by everyone (as was the fashion of the age) as ‘Madam Elizabeth Edmunds Price’.
William Aneurin Richards was Aneurin to everyone except his wife Hilda, who called him Bill. He was a Senior N.C.B. Mining Engineer from Capel Hendre but lived the majority of his life in Gwent. He was an Islwyn Borough councillor from 1973-1996 and a Gwent County councillor from 1977-1981. He was Plaid Cymru’s Westminster candidate for Abertillery in both the 1974 Westminster elections and for Islwyn in 1983 and 1987. The simple facts cannot of course give any real picture of the man he was. He was the man who brought Helen Mary Jones and Jocelyn Davies into the Party and ‘persuaded’ Allan Pritchard to stand for election. He was a man of principle, of high ability, of integrity and dignity. He was greatly respected by officers and members on both councils where he served.
A cornerstone of old Cwmaman, near Aberdare, fell from its place in the wall of Time when we heard in late July about the death of Gwyneth Mai Williams, Dan-y-rhiw, a short while before her 78th birthday.
It was with shock and great sadness that Plaid Cymru learnt of the death of Glyn Erasmus. He died suddenly and totally unexpectedly at his home in Blackwood on the evening of Friday, January 15th. Glyn joined the party many years ago when being a member of Plaid Cymru in the valleys was neither fashionable nor a career move. He joined the party because he loved his country and enjoyed this challenge. He was a man who relished challenges. His professional work in engineering required him to travel frequently and often took him abroad which restricted his ability to contribute to Welsh politics, but when he became organiser to the CCBC Councillors’ Group he had the freedom to devote himself full-time to the national cause. Glyn had the gift of a methodical mind and a rigorous approach to everything he undertook. Consequently he expected to see spreadsheets, data, reports and hence planning which was based on factually detailed and correct information. He was someone who was prepared to challenge perceived wisdom and current methods, and so was ready to ruffle the feathers of those who, regardless of their status, he saw as preferring gut feeling over evidence. Glyn relished debate and with his dry wit would always ask ‘why’? Glyn was active at every level of the Party: he stood more than once as a candidate in elections for Islwyn Borough and Caerphilly County Borough Councils; was a Town Councillor for Blackwood, where he was Mayor in 2014-15; Chair of the Sirhowy Branch; Constituency Treasurer; Chair of the Credit Union; Regional Representative for the South-East and of course Party Treasurer (not all of these at once!). He was energetic and gave of his time generously, although he hated wasting any of it. He turned up for everything and was always prepared to take on the kind of tasks that require organisation and precision, as long as the outcome was worthwhile. He was especially good at relating to and supporting the younger Party members, and many of them will have had encouragement and help from him to establish their political careers. Glyn was a committed nationalist without sentimentality who could be quite hard-nosed, but there was another side to him: he was unashamedly besotted by his family who he talked about with the utmost pride, especially his first grandchild Bronnie, and the ‘Lady in Red’ ringtone for his wife Carol said it all.
