Oct 24 Cllr Steve Churchman Liberal ascendancy in Wales

[QuentinDeakin]

On Monday October 21st, at the first of two meetings on the theme of Politics in Wales, the society
was pleased to welcome County Councillor Steve Churchman for a presentation entitled The Era of Liberal Party Ascendancy in Wales. Steve gave an excellent and enlightening talk tracing the emergence of the party in the second half of the nineteenth century around enduring core values. In Wales its increasing success culminated in 1895 when its dominance reached almost a hundred per cent. Eventually public support waned and to an extent was transferred to the Labour Party which absorbed many of the Liberal Party's values and policies. For example the Beveridge Report, which paved the way to Labour's introduction of the NHS. However, the greater part of Steve's talk was devoted to a detailed account of the contributions of the Liberal MP's within constituencies now contained within Gwynedd, whose achievements are still discernible in the present life and culture of Wales. The lecture was amply illustrated and contained very useful spreadsheets. Questions were answered and an interesting discussion followed.

After break bookings were taken for the Christmas lunch, at the Talyllyn Railway's King's Cafe, this year organised by Di Drummond. Quentin Deakin (Secretary) listed suggestions for next year's programme and invited all members to add to this list. He followed this with an illustrated report on the society's trip on October 13th to the historic World War Two site of Rhydymwyn, featured in documentaries by Michael Portillo and Professor Brian Cox. The trip ended with an afternoon tea at the Beaufort Park Hotel near Mold. The next meeting, on Monday November 18th will feature member contributions on the theme of Politics in Wales at the Baptist Church, Tywyn, starting at 7PM. All welcome.