Mr Richard King

Brittle With Relics – This is a book I wish I could write

This is a wonderful book built on the oral history of the Welsh from the 1960s to the formation of the Welsh referendum which brought them an elected Assembly and a semblance of some freedom for London. This book really is about the history of the people of Wales and how they have had to overcome some brutal circumstances which bonded the many communities of the Principality.

Opening with the two man-made disasters one that killed so many children and the other which wiped a community from the map so an English city can ‘steal’ its water resources. This is such a beautifully written book that is multi-layered and multi-voiced one cannot help guilty for the crimes committed against the Welsh in the name of ‘progress’.

The first disaster was the flooding of the Tryweryn Valley in North Wales. This was to create a reservoir that would supply water to Liverpool, something that can only ever be described as an arrogant act that destroyed the Welsh-speaking community of Capel Celyn. The other disaster occurred in October 1966 in Aberfan, the south Wales pit village where, despite warnings of danger, a vast spoil tip slid down a hillside behind Pantglas Junior School, killing 144 people, 116 of them children. Both these catastrophises show the arrogance of the English towards their neighbours.

While the two disasters helped to reignite the campaign for the Welsh language and reignited Welsh nationalism, it also showed how the English bullied their neighbour and was quite happy to ruin Welsh communities without much thought. Which helps to explain the very long campaign of sabotage and disobedience during the 1970s and 80s, which are vividly written about.

We then see during the Miners Strike of 1984-85 the destroying of many industrial communities in the south of the country. Even today when one speaks of the coal fields it is today of the economic and public health disadvantages that these areas are forced to face.

This is a beautiful and visceral book, as someone who has lived in Wales, still makes me side with the Welsh in their anger at the English arrogance of destroying and stealing their country. But with 1997 came new hope. Let’s hope things improve for Wales and the English realise it is a country in its own right.… (altro)