An
event to commemorate the 90th
anniversary of the first meeting of Y Mudiad Cymreig/The Welsh
Movement, which led to the formation of Plaid Cymru the following
year, is being held in Penarth in January.
The
historic meeting was held at 11 Bedwas Place in Penarth on the
evening of January 7, 1924, and the commemorative event is being held
at the Windsor Arms on Tuesday, January 7 (7.30pm).
It
is being organised jointly by the Plaid Cymru History Society and the
Penarth Branch of Plaid Cymru.
The
guest speaker will be Professor Richard Wyn Jones, the eminent
historian, political commentator, author and broadcaster. At
the 1924 meeting, a small group of nationalists, led by the lecturer
and playwright Saunders Lewis, began drawing up a set of aims and
policies intended to rescue Wales from political and cultural
oblivion.
As
well as Mr Lewis, that first meeting was attended by the historian,
Ambrose Bebb, and the owners of the house, the historian and Welsh
scholar G. J. Williams and his wife, Elizabeth.They
were joined at a later meeting, on February 5, 1924, by D.J. Williams
and Ben Bowen Thomas and at their March meeting by the Treorchy
minister, the Rev Ffred Jones, the grandfather of folk singer and
former Plaid President Dafydd Iwan and of Assembly Member Alun Ffred
Jones, who will be chairing the anniversary meeting.
The
group met in secret throughout 1924 and, at about the same time,
another group of nationalists were meeting in Gwynedd.
 |
| Saunders Lewis |
Early
in 1925, the leader of the northern group, H.R.Jones, contacted
Saunders Lewis to invite him to help with the creation of a new
political party. The two groups stayed in close contact and, on
August 5, 1925, Mr Lewis and the Rev Ffred Jones travelled to
Pwllheli to join H.R. Jones and three others – Rev Lewis Valentine,
scientist Moses Griffiths and carpenter D.E. Williams - at a meeting
which established Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru as the National Party of
Wales.
Some
of the policies which were forged in Penarth by the Welsh Movement
have been long abandoned, but the vision of a party with, in D.J.
Williams’ words, “the specific aim of delivering to Wales, in the
fullness of time, self-government and its own parliament, along with
all the privileges of a free nation” became a reality.
The
rebirth of Wales as a self-governing nation can be traced back, in no
small part, to those secret discussions at Bedwas Place in 1924.
It
is hoped that guests at the commemorative event will include
descendants of the Welsh Movement’s principal members and
representatives from the Pwllheli branch of Plaid Cymru.
Tickets
(£10 a head to include buffet) are available from Rowland Davies, of
the Penarth Branch, at ardbear@btinternet.com
or on (029) 20702603 or 07769 195025, or from Alan Jobbins, of the
Plaid Cymru History Society, at asjobbins@btinternet.com or on (029)
20623275 or 07790 868686.
