One of Barry‘s most famous sons has returned to his home town.
Gwynfor Evans, Plaid Cymru’s first MP, died in 2005 and, at long last, has a memorial in the town of his birth.
A bronze memorial of the famous patriot by noted Llanuwchllyn sculptor John Meirion Morris has been unveiled in the Barry Library at King Square. The plinth was designed and made by Ray Smith who worked in the National History Museum at St Fagans, and Euryn Ogwen Williams composed the wording of the inscription – ‘His inspiration, like our banner unfurled, is a gift from Barry to Wales and the world.’
The work was commissioned by a small committee formed by Gwenno Huws, former deputy head at Ysgol Gymraeg Sant Baruc, Barry. According to Mrs Huws: “It pained me to see that there was nothing whatsoever in Barry to remember one of the town’s most well-known sons and one of Wales’ leading statesmen. When I retired in July last year I saw my chance to do something so I set about establishing a fund to raise money for a fitting memorial. I’m very grateful to Alcwyn Deiniol, Geraint Evans, Dulyn Griffith and Mai Marley for all their support.”
rmission was received from the Vale of Glamorgan Council to locate the bronze in Barry Library, and enough money was raised at Mrs Huws’ retirement to fund the work. In a farewell concert to her in July, disc jockey Aled Wyn Phillips and some of Wales’ best-known artistes – Y Tebot Piws, Heather Jones, Sioned Mair, Grug, Elen Rhys and Brigyn – gave their time free of charge to raise money for the project.
The unveiling ceremony was conducted by Dulyn Griffith, head teacher at Ysgol Gymraeg Sant Baruc, who said “We never would have guessed that we’d achieve our objective within a year.”
The memorial was officially unveiled by Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, President of the National Assembly for Wales, who said: “As a recent arrival in the Vale of Glamorgan, I am particularly honoured to be able to unveil this memorial, a bust of Gwynfor Evans, here in Barry, the town where he was born and brought up.
“It is wonderful that Barry has seen extremely successful Welsh medium schools established. No doubt the lively and varied commercial and social life of Barry influenced Gwynfor’s classless view of society and his strong principles of equality.
“Creating a united democratic Wales with its own elected Parliament was Gwynfor’s principal aim, and he would have been the first to acknowledge the support of members of all political parties in reaching this target”
The memorial was received on behalf of the residents of Barry by Vale Council leader Cllr Gordon Kemp who said: “I am delighted to accept this bust on behalf of the council. I think it’s entirely appropriate that a man who was born and educated in Barry and then went on to play a significant part in Welsh politics should be honoured in this way.”
The guest speaker was Professor Gareth Williams, of the University of Glamorgan, who gave a brief outline of Gwynfor Evans’ early years in Barry. He said “I’m honoured to say that I, like Gwynfor, am from Barry and a product of Barry County School. We should not forget about Gwynfor’s upbringing in this Anglicised town, and how his early experiences played such an important formative role in the development of his political and cultural ideas.”
The ceremony closed with musical performances by the choir of Ysgol Gymraeg Sant Baruc, accompanied by pianist Mrs Delwen Williams, and soloist Menna Roberts.
* Gwynfor Evans was born in 1912, the son of Dan Evans, a shop owner in Barry. This was the town’s main department store until 2006. He was educated in Gladstone Road Primary School and then in Barry Boys’ School, or Barry County School as it was then known. He went on to study law at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and then at Oxford University, although he decided in the end to become a market gardener in Carmarthenshire. A pacifist and devout Christian, he declared himself a conscientious objector during the Second World War. He was a central figure in the unsuccessful battle to prevent the flooding of the Tryweryn Valley to create a reservoir for Liverpool. He became President of Plaid Cymru in 1945 and was elected its first MP in 1966. After initially breaking their promise to establish S4C, the u-turn by Margaret Thatcher’s Government has been attributed to Gwynfor’s threat to start a hunger strike. Gwynfor Evans is considered one of the foremost influential Welshmen of the 20th Century.
