Last week,we featured a story and a query about Sam Lloyd’s Eisteddfod Chairs from Des Jones–( SEE A RESOLVEN POET REMEMBERED )

We are delighted to be able to tell Des that some of the chairs are in local places of worship in the village and one is with a family member.

Also, one of our RDN committee members has a personal tale to tell.

.  Mrs Margaret Williams lived next to Sam and his sisters Agnes and Catura and brother Gwilym . She has fond memories of those days—-

“Sam and Catura were my godparents and later, godparents to my three boys, Mark, Steven and Nigel.

As a child, I used to go to some of the Eisteddfodau with Sam and I’ll never forget the day he won the chair in Aberdare.  It was in the Town Hall and I was up in the balcony and when I saw the Bardic Sword, I started crying because I thought they were going to cut Sam’s head off.

We saw a lot of Sam and his family. The boys used to go into their house for chicken dinner on a Tuesday and fish and chips on Friday. One of the boys remembers they had serviettes in silver rings

Catura was the last to pass away and she gave me one of Sam’s bardic chairs and “Salem” a picture that hung on a wall in the house.

The chair is now in the Church Hall, so I see it every time I attend W.I meetings there “

MARGARET WILLIAMS

Sam Lloyd was a well known Welsh poet, in Resolven, and I worked with him in the Timber Yard at Glyncastle Colliery just after the war. I was a young man and he was a lot older than me.  I left the colliery, when the essential works order came off, in January 1950. They were apparently in his loft and were gathering dust and looking tatty! He asked me what he could do with them and I suggested a large tin of Bees Wax.I am now 96yrs old and I live with my son in Norfolk. I’ve been thinking about the chairs and wonder if anyone at Resolven District News would know of their whereabouts?

I keep up with what’s going on in Resolven and the surrounding area by looking at your website regularly. I was born in Neath but lived in Clyne, before moving to Luton to work at Vauxhall Motors in 1950.    My nephew was Councillor Des Davies.

All the best everyone! 

Des Jones

Des with his family

ANYA’S CROWN

THE CHOCOLATE CAKE

JUDGES OF THE VICTORIA SPONGE

RECEIVING THE CUP

Report by JENNY Colley