Aled Lloyd Davies the former headmaster talks about his hometown

I’ve lived in Mold longer than in any other town but I am originally from Corwen in Meirionithshire. I moved to Mold in 1965 having been appointed as Headmaster to Ysgol Maes Garmon and I now consider myself as one from Mold. The towns people are very friendly and its situation is very convenient.

Whilst Mold’s easy access to the border and to major transport routes is of great benefit this has not helped the Welsh language which has suffered with the flood of incomers into the town. I therefore felt a sense of duty in taking the post as headmaster of Maes Garmon to encourage the use of the language in the locality. The job itself was certainly something of a challenge given the lack of educational resources in Welsh at that time.

I’m glad to say that there is as much - if not more - Welsh spoken about the town as there was in 1965 and I’m sure that the growth of Welsh education and the fact that the Eisteddfod has visited the town twice in the past 20 years has made an impact on the town. There is a strong community amongst the Welsh learners in Mold, which is testimony to the fact that the Eisteddfod has had a lasting effect both in 1991 and 2007.

History has always been of interest to me and by moving to Mold I felt that I had moved to a town full of interesting local history. There are the remains of the old Welsh 13th century motte and bailey castle as well as the church built by Margaret Beaufort in honour of her son Henry VII after his success in the Wars of the Roses and then of course there is the effect of the industrial revolution in Mold with the plumb and coal industries locally.

Another great interest of mine is literature and poetry and I recall a poem I learnt at school by the 19th century poet Blackwell that talks of the Beili and the river Alyn

Tra bo clogwyn yn Eryri
Tra bo coed ar ben y Beili
Tra bo dŵr yn afon Alyn
Cadwaf galon bur i rhywun

Whilst there’s a cliff in Snowdonia
Whilst there are trees on top of the Beili
Whilst there’s water in the River Alyn
I’ll keep a pure heart for someone.

I am reminded on a daily basis of another highly respected writer, Daniel Owen. Owen was Wales’ first novelist and was born in Mold. I live on Ffordd Argoed and it was at the Argoed coal mine that his father Robert (37) along with his two brothers James (21) and Robert (11) drowned following a pit fall at that works in 1837 when Owen was but a babe in arms.