My Town / Dolgellau / Dyfrig Siencyn

I was born in Dolgellau though I spent 12 years living in Llanfachreth three miles north east of the town. I have been living firmly within the town for the past 30 years and have raised a family here.

I was brought up in a house with a huge garden with many apple trees laden with fruit and I remember storing the apples in wooden boxes to be kept over winter in the cellar – that is those that hadn’t disappeared into the pockets of the lads from Penuchardre!

We weren’t far from the river Arran and the path leading to it used to pass a historic house that had fallen into disrepair, many of its stones had been used to build the Catholic Church. I remember spending hours playing in the river – even though it wasn’t all that clean - as two or three local tanneries would pour waste water into it about twice a week.

Other memories from my childhood were walking up the Arran which was always a great adventure. Up the street from our home was Meyrick Square and Penuchardre, a hive of activity with children playing in the street. We would look forward eagerly to have chips from Mr Jones on a Saturday night.

On a Saturday the towns children would flock to the Matinee at the Plaza to see films like ‘The Three Stooges’ and ‘Hop Along Cassidy’! There would be such a raucous atmosphere that the poor manager would have to stop the film and give us a lecture so that we might behave; how much benefit this was I don’t know since the weekly lecture became an event in itself!

One of the special places in Dolgellau is the path past Pen y Bryn towards Pen y Banc. There is a bench half way along where you can draw breath as you climb the steep hill. There is spectacular view over the town as you look up the Wnion valley towards Esgeiriau and Bryn Mawr. Summer days were spent playing in the fern and trees on these slopes. This is an ancient route and you can well imagine the Quakers walking to town this way.

Idris Hall played a large role in the cultural life of the town. Here they held concerts and plays but by the 50’s and 60’s it had become an important place to hold folk dancing, which was held every other Saturday. People would travel from afar to these events and at the end of the night the Square would be full of youngsters having fun. It was a good place to find your match and often a place where there would be ructions between the town folk and those who would come into town from the country.

Establishing the Folk Festival and the Sesiwn Fawr were continuations of this tradition and by now we have Ty Siamas based in the old Idris Hall.

I was lucky enough to have work in the town – I had no intention to do otherwise in all honesty – I wanted to contribute to the community of Dolgellau as best as I could. I started as a Labourer for the local builders Arthur Pugh. It was an education in itself to work with a crew of local lads. Then I joined the local auctioneers and I have been there ever since – selling stock for the farmers of Meirionnydd.

There are a number of things that are special about Dolgellau:

•  Its wonderful architecture; old buildings of enormous granite blocks, the notable windows and hipped slate roofs all built on narrow unplanned streets.

•  The local dialect – which is regrettably not heard as often these days.

•  The location of the town by the foot of Cadair Idris and just a stones throw fom the mouth of the Mawddach river – in my view it’s a hard task to find a nicer spot between town and country.