Gwynoro's recollections and life story.

Here are the first two out of some 50 videos of Gwynoro's recollections and life story. There are 12-14 hours of recordings in all.

The initial intention was to use the recordings as an aide memoire to the writing of his book but it has been decided to place them on his channel as well, albeit that they are home video recordings.

They will be uploaded over the coming year - one a week.

There were no rehearsals and retakes - all unedited.

Inevitably therefore some events might be not accurately recalled in datelines etc but he will correct such errors in his book  to be published mid 2017.

This first one is about the very years and the recollection of a military plane flying low over the house - probably in 1944 and then the big snow of 1947.

Regarding the military plane he is not convinced it was German but that was the story in the village at the time!!

In this second video describes life in the late 1940's - no water supply, no electricity and how oil lamps were used in the house with water being collected from a well some half mile away.

Then describes how the family used to bath in a sink tub in front of the coal fire!.

Goes on to mention the singing prowess of the family and especially his grandfather - who was a very well known Eisteddfod singer and his stage name was 'Cymro'.

Then talks about the singing in the chapel and the celebrations in the village on Coronation Day.

‘Mmm …..What’s up Doc?’

So after all it wasn’t the EU or Westminster that was at fault for Brexit but the Welsh Assembly!

As everyone knows I have not always been a fan of how successive Welsh Assembly governments’ have conducted themselves and operated. Nor have I ever been an admirer of the Assembly’s quality of debates and deliberations both in standard and substance... 

BUT...

I can recognise when there is mischief afoot with some people having malicious intentions towards the Senedd and apparently even the name offends.

UKIP AM Gareth Bennett has said that the term should be ‘kicked into the long grass’ and that Welsh-only terms such as the Urdd are not known outside the Welsh speaking ‘colony’.

Such insults need stamping out! But then they cohere with similar disparaging attitudes towards devolution, the Welsh language and the European Union.

In Wales, just over half of the electorate who voted supported the Leave EU campaign. Of course, it was a very disappointing outcome for many of us—and there were many reasons for that result which I will come back to no doubt over coming months. Criticisms are justified.

However, that vote has prompted David Taylor to say:

‘ The Leave vote shows a Wales gripped by a rebellious, anti-establishment zeitgeist—more so than during any time since the National Assembly came into being.’

and then Andrew R T Davies to assert:

‘The political establishment—and, in particular, the Welsh Labour Government and Welsh nationalists—seem to be in a dangerous state of denial.’

Okay, let’s accept that for now, but then comes the rub and the real purpose of their musings!

Taylor goes on to comment:

‘The truth is that Wales is neither particularly pro-devolution nor anti-devolution. There is chronic disinterest in the entire project.’

and that:

‘Since the advent of devolution politicians have felt a pressing need to develop a soft nationalist building narrative.’

As if that is a bad thing to do!

Andrew R T Davies also proclaims—although having carefully entered the following caveat to disarm people—‘I say that with no pleasure. Having initially opposed devolution, I have become a passionate but pragmatic advocate.’

Nevertheless he is of the view that:

‘A referendum on abolishing the Welsh Assembly would succeed if it was held now ….it would be difficult to get backing for the Assembly as an institution…The fact of the matter is that I don’t think that such a campaign could be won today. The result was tight in 1997, but if the question were put to the people tomorrow I believe that they would vote to abolish the National Assembly.’

As the cartoon character Bugs Bunny used to say in the 70s

:

I have a fair idea and its time those of us who believe in a stronger, more confident and self-governing Wales woke up and spoke up much more vociferously.

The Welsh Assembly has been hamstrung from the beginning and has been devoid of the freedom to act with the effective powers granted the Scottish Parliament.

By the way, in the current climate I do not blame Nicola Sturgeon for re-opening the conversation on support for independence in Scotland nor Gordon Brown suggesting a federal solution for Scotland in the UK.

However as with Brexit, where is Labour’s official voice? Sadly it is dogged by serious internal conflict.

Of course, I understand the current frustration with politics. Many of the issues have roots further in the past. However, the answer is not to abolish a relatively new voice in the process (the Assembly)—but to empower it to be truly representative of all people in Wales.

So the Assembly does not need less BUT greater powers. Of course we in Wales could do a better job of governing ourselves than Westminster does.

With the Brexit result I believe that the future lies, at the very least, in a self-governing Wales within a Federal UK.

An argument can be made for going further, even on economic grounds.

Out of 235 countries in the world some 130 of them have populations of around 7 million and under. Of these 100 have populations under 4 million and the vast majority have numbers smaller than Wales. 

Gwynoro’s life story on YouTube

Fourteen hours of recollections into 45 videos - unedited.

Also Six videos of very recent interviews with Lord Elystan Morgan

Some two years ago I stood in front of a camera and over 3 days, unrehearsed, tried to recall the central events and happenings of my life and times.

They cover in particular the period 1945 to the early part of this century.

The recordings were initially carried out to assist me with providing general base material for the book I am writing. So whilst the vast majority of it is accurate there are some inaccuracies which obviously I will correct in my book.

In addition I recently met up with Lord Elystan Morgan a man of considerable intellect, and wide experience of politics, government, constitutional issues and the law – being a former judge. WE spent a pleasant day reminiscing and also discussing current happenings including the outcome of the EU Referendum, what will happen with Brexit, the turmoil in the Labour Party, the Future of Wales and his recollections of his days in Plaid Cymru.

Six videos were recorded with Elystan and they too will be uploaded on to my YouTube channel – with more to come from him in a couple of months.

Intention is to upload one video a week of the 50 or so videos already processed with some priority given to Elystan’s.

Hope you will enjoy.

Here is a video I did this morning as a trailer