Dr John Davies Memorial Fund

Welsh General / Questions
#1

Hi

Just came across this on the Menter Caerdydd site about a Memorial Fund for the late & great Dr John Davies to establish a Welsh Centre in Cardiff in his memory

http://www.mentercaerdydd.org/pages/view_block/3398/John+Davies+Memorial+Fund

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#2

Thanks for flagging this.
As it happens, his “History of Wales” is my current holiday read. - What a cogent and entertaining writer (and that’s from someone who despised history).
My wife, who was the administrator in Aber’s Adran Hanes & Hanes Cymru, came across him from time to time through his distinguished association with the Department.
I may well dip my hand into my pocket when I get back from hols.
Diolch eto

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#3

His History of Wales is a great book, very informative, I even learnt quite a bit about English history that I didn’t know before as he was so good at putting Welsh history into its wider context!

@hewrop I wasn’t at Aber when John Davies was there but I may have come across your wife if she was still there in 99-04 as I remember having to hand in my history essays to the History and Welsh History office!

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#4

Hi,

Yeah, History of Wales is one of my favourite books and probably one of the catalysts why I started learning Welsh. Once pay day comes Im gonna make a donation I think, just to try and say thank you at the very least…

Cheers

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#5

Her name is Maureen Jones and she was certainly there when you were. If you’d like to PM me your name, I’ll see if she remembers you.

Hope you weren’t late with your assignments - she could be pretty rigid with the rules. :smile:

#6

Don’t we risk making the same mistakes over and over again if we forget the past?
To earthpig2020: thanks a million for flagging this. I greatly admired John Davies, as a historian and as a human being.

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#7

My view may be different from yours @henddraig I do think we can learn a lot about the past from good historians but I don’t think that knowledge is useful in dealing with the present or the future. IMO, the “world stage” has changed and is changing so rapidly and so much that lessons from the past have almost no relevance.

I should add that the history I "despised"was as taught in school and the history I have grown to admire is written by people such as John Davies.

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#8

Oh I see!!! Yes!! I was forced by my school to ‘drop’ history at o-level due to ‘too many subjects’ and found that reading for myself was much, much better! Actually, I saw the history papers & realised I could have passed, just not answering the sections my school taught!!
I don’t know what happened to this quote, sorry!!!
This is weird… I’m editing to say that the original quote from hewdrop didn’t work properly. Now it’s fine! I need a darkened room!!

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#9

I really like “hewdrop” - I may well adopt it :smile:

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#10

I’m so sorry!! I’ve honestly read it as drop all through!!! I think my brain added the ‘d’ because ‘hewrop’ is harder to vocalise!!!

#11

Please don’t be sorry - I was genuinely tickled.
Actually the origin of “hewrop” is rather strange anyway. When I came to Prifysgol Aber to establish their Swyddfa Cyswllt Ewrop in 1990, I though it would be fun to combine my name, Huw, with Ewrop to create hewrop as my e-mail name (in the tradition of the undertaker “Dai the Dead” my dad who was also a physicist “Dai the Atom” and the politician “Dai the Lie”). It’s stuck with me ever since. :smile:

I currently have a bad cold so “dewdrop” might be more appropriate (achafi) :wink:

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