News Archive

Leslie Norris and Alun Richards Remembered

On Thursday 13 March a plaque in tribute to Alun Richards was unveiled by Helen Richards at Pontypridd Library.

In addition to this The Rotary Club are arranging an evening to commemorate Alun at Pontypridd Museum at 7.30 pm on Thursday 24 April 2008. Chair of the Rhys Davies Trust and eminent historian Professor Dai Smith will speak and there will be live music. Tickets are £6.50 from Pontypridd Museum on 01443 490748 or Mr David Williams on 01443 202443 and proceeds will contribute towards the costs of this and future plaques.

On Tuesday 12 February, 2008 a plaque in memory of Leslie Norris (1921-2006) was unveiled in the main library in Merthyr Tydfil. This is the town whose people and streets figure prominently in Norris’s stories and poems. The unveiling was by his niece, Pam Jenkins. 

Both plaques are the result of a collaboration between Academi, the National Literature promotion Agency for Wales and the Rhys Davies Trust.

The two plaques bring to thirteen the number which have been put up by the Rhys Davies Trust. All have been made by Ieuan Rees of Betws, near Ammanford, whose calligraphy and carving are renowned. The material used is Welsh slate and the lettering is in silver paint. Academi and the Trust  believe the series reminds local communities of the writers who have been borne in their area and provides a focal point for admirers of their work.

The plaques have been installed as a result of Rhys Davies Trust initiative.  Memorials to date have included the following:

• Rhys Davies at 6 Clydach Road, Blaenclydach
• Glyn Jones at 158 Manor Way, Whitchurch
• John Ormond at 15 Conway Road, Pontcanna
• Harri Webb in foyer of the Public Library, Mountain Ash
• Raymond Williams at Llwyn Derw (behind Glannant House), Pandy, Abergavenny
• Ron Berry at Michaels Road, Blaencwm
• Caradoc Evans in Queens Square, Aberystwyth
• T H Jones at Builth High School (viewed from North Road)
• Brenda Chamberlain at Ty’r Mynydd, Ffordd y Mynydd, Rachub, near Bethesda
• John Tripp in the Public Library, Whitchurch
• Jack Jones in the Public Library, Rhiwbina

But there are also a number of other public memorials to writers across Wales. There is one to Howard Spring on his house in Canton,  Cardiff. He was first employed in Cardiff Bay before the First World War.  Dafydd ap Gwilym, of course, is marked at Ystrad Fflur. The tradition may be older that that. A BBC Wales story in 2005 noted that plaques to three Welsh writers were being restored after being found in a skip in north Wales. Walter Davies - Gwallter Mechain -  was one of the founding fathers of provincial eisteddfodau. Born in Llanfechain, he was vicar of  Manafon and later of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant from 1837 until his death in 1849. Robert Ellis – Cynddelw - was a writer, a poet and a Baptist minister. Born in Penybont Fawr, in 1812, he died in 1875. The third, John Hughes, tutored Ann Griffiths the hymn writer.

However it is becoming apparent there must be many more writers commemorated around Wales – not in graveyards but in plaques and memorials and wallplates. Academi would like to compile a list of who is marked where, make a trail, set the footprints out so that the interested can revisit  old friends. Academi would be delighted to hear from anyone who can help us build a complete list of writer’s memorials in Wales. Tell us who is where.

You can contact Academi on 029 2047 2266 or post@academi.org