Cadeirydd – Mr Eric Smith

2014 Gwanwyn 

Rhif 14                                        

Er y stormydd garw cafwyd yn gynharach yn y flwyddyn pan wnaed difrod sylweddol i’r Promenâd yn Neganwy, parhaodd y Grŵp Hanes gyda’i weithgareddau ac mae’n bleser eto i gael cofnodi weithgareddau’r Grŵp yn y Daflen Newyddion hon.

Fe ddenwyd nifer o ymwelwyr i’n Diwrnod Agored blynyddol yn Rhagfyr, llawer ohonynt yn canmol y gwaith sy’n cael ei wneud gennym. Cawsom y cyfle i i gofnodi atgofion pobl am hen Ddeganwy trwy ychwanegu at ein casgliad presennol o gardiau post, ffotograffau, dogfennau ayb. Mae ein harchif yn tyfu. Diolch i bawb a gyfrannodd.

Cynhaliwyd ein pedwerydd Cyfarfod Blynyddol ar 16^eg Ionawr pan etholwyd Eric Smith i’r Gadair i olynu Elan Rivers. Diolch Elan am eich holl waith caled ar ran y Grŵp yn ystod eich cyfnod yn y swydd. Croesawyd Tony Hobson fel aelod newydd o’r Pwyllgor. Er eich gwybodaeth, cynhelir y Cyfarfodydd Blynyddol yn Nhachwedd pob blwyddyn o hyn ymlaen.

Unwaith eto cafwyd cyflwyniadau arbennig o dda gan ein siaradwyr gwadd.

Ym mis Ionawr aeth Llew Groom a ni am daith weledol i Blas Mawr, Conwy. Mae Llew yn barod i fynd a phartïon, heb fod yn fwy na 10 ar y tro, o gwmpas Plas Mawr. Os oes gennych ddiddordeb, cysylltwch â’r Ysgrifennydd er mwyn cael cydlynu gyda Llew.

Un o’r digwyddiadau mwyaf cofiadwy a theimladwy a gynhaliwyd gan y Grŵp oedd y gwasanaeth coffa yn  yr Eglwys yng Nghyffordd Llandudno ar fore Sadwrn 15^fed Chwefror i gofio am y 5 o’r llu awyr a laddwyd yng Nghae Erw, ger Coedwig Marl ar Chwefror 15^fed, 1944, union 70 mlynedd yn ôl. Roedd aelodau o deuluoedd y pump a laddwyd yn bresennol yn y gwasanaeth ac fe ddadorchuddiwyd y plac, a gomisiynwyd gan y Grŵp, ganddynt. Cyfrannodd y Cyngor Tref tuag at gostau’r plac. Yn dilyn y gwasanaeth, fe agorwyd gardd coffa ar dir hen Glwb Hotpoint yng Nghyffordd Llandudno ac fe ddadorchuddiwyd plac arall a gomisiynwyd gan y gymuned. Mae’n rhaid dweud na fyddai’r digwyddiad yma wedi cymryd lle oni bai am waith caled a diwydrwydd Gwyn Hughes, sy’n aelod o’n Pwyllgor. Gall pawb oedd yn bresennol, tystio at natur sensitif paratoadau Gwyn a’r modd urddasol y cynhaliwyd y digwyddiad. Llawer o ddiolch i ti Gwyn.

Plac

Yn Chwefror cawsom daith weledol arall – y tro hwn i gyn Gwesty Castell Deganwy. Cawsom fewnwelediad gan Matt Jones o’i darganfyddiadau archeolegol a hanesyddol yn ystod ei waith ymchwil diweddar.

Ym mis Mawrth, rhoddodd Nigel Bannerman sgwrs dan yr enw ‘Ailymweld â Llys Helyg’ ac yn Ebrill roedd sgwrs Eric Dobinson am drychineb y llong danfor HMS Thetis yn arbennig o deimladwy oherwydd y trychinebau a ddigwyddodd yn ddiweddar yng Nghefnfor India ac oddi ar arfordir De Corea

Cafodd yr holl sgyrsiau hyn eu recordio ac mi fyddant ar gael ar DVD yn fuan iawn.

Mae’r rhaglen ar gyfer y dyfodol yn cychwyn  gyda sgwrs gan Bill Chapman ‘Rhamant Enwau Lleoedd’ ar 15^fed Mai. Ar Fehefin 19^eg bydd Fiona Richards yn arwain taith gerdded min nos o amgylch Cerrig Ffin Llanrhos a Llandudno. Mae’n debyg y byddwn yn cael noson gymdeithasol anffurfiol yn dilyn hyn. Mae’n siŵr bydd angen yr ymborth!! Ar 17^eg Gorffennaf bydd Jane Kennney yn arwain taith gerdded min  nos i Gastell Deganwy. Bydd hyn yn ddilyniant i’r cyflwyniad cawsom gan Jane llynedd pan roddodd sawl esboniad diddorol am y dulliau adeiladu a ddefnyddiwyd ar y

Mae gennym gyfres lawn o ddigwyddiadau ar gyfer ail hanner y flwyddyn fydd yn cynnwys ein Cinio Blynyddol ar 26^ain Hydref pan ddisgwyliwn yr Athro Robin Grove White fel ein gŵr gwadd.

Erbyn i chi ddarllen y Daflen Newyddion hon, byddwch yn gwybod hanes ein gwibdaith i ardal Llangollen fydd yn cynnwys taith ar y trên stem, taith cwch ar y gamlas dros Pontcysyllte a phryd min nos ar y ffordd adref.

Rydym yn hynod o ddiolchgar am gefnogaeth ein haelodau yn ein cyfarfodydd a’n gweithgareddau. Mae’r aelodaeth am eleni hyd yn hyn dros 50 a gydag ychydig mwy o ymdrech gallwn gyrraedd y cyfanswm o 61 a gafwyd yn 2011.

Fe welwch o ben y Daflen Newyddion hon bod gennym enw parth newydd ar gyfer y wefan. Rydym yn defnyddio gwasanaeth John Fotios i drosglwyddo cynnwys ein gwefan presennol i ffurf WordPress sy’n haws i’w ddefnyddio ac yn haws i’w reoli.

Rydym yn anfon ein dymuniadau gorau i’r holl aelodau am haf hapus a hamddenol.

Gwanwyn 2014

Chairman – Mr Eric Smith

Spring 2014

No. 14

Despite the ferocious storms of earlier in the year when a huge amount of damage occurred to the Deganwy Promenade, the History Group has continued with its activities and once again it is a pleasure to record all of the Group’s activities in this Newsletter. 

Our annual Open Day in December once again attracted many visitors, many of whom were most impressed with the work we are doing. We had the opportunity of recording people’s memories of old Deganwy by adding to our present collection of postcards, photographs, documents etc. Our archive is growing. Thanks to all who contributed.    

Our fourth Annual Meeting was held on 16^th January when Eric Smith succeeded Elan Rivers as Chairman.Thanks Elan for your hard work on behalf of the Group during your period in office. We also welcomed Tony Hobson as a new member of the Committee. For your information, future Annual Meetings will be held in November each year.

We’ve had the usual high quality presentations by our guest speakers.

 In January, Llew Groom took us an a visual guided tour of Plas Mawr in Conwy. Llew is willing to take parties, of no more than 10 at a time, around Plas Mawr. If you are interested, please contact the Group Secretary who will liaise with Llew.

Memorial Service

One of the most memorable and moving events that the Group has ever been involved with was the memorial service held at St Michael and All Angels Church in Llandudno Junction on Saturday morning the 15^th February in memory of the 5 airmen who died at Cae Erw, close to Marl Woods on 15^th February 1944, exactly 70 years ago. Family members of the airmen were present at the service, during which, a plaque, commissioned by the Group, and subscribed to by the Town Council, was unveiled by relatives of the airmen. Following the service, a memorial garden was opened in the grounds of the former Hotpoint Club in Llandudno Junction and a further plaque, commissioned by the local community, was unveiled. It has to be said that this event would not have occurred had it not been for the hard work and diligence of our Committee member, Gwyn Hughes. Everybody present will testify to the sensitive nature of Gwyn’s preparations and to the dignified way in which the whole event was undertaken. Many thanks Gwyn.  

 February saw us having another pictorial guided tour – this time of the former Deganwy Castle Hotel. Matt Jones gave us an insight into archaeological and historic finds during his recent research work.   In March, Nigel Bannerman gave a talk entitled ‘Llys  Helyg Revisited’ and in April, Eric Dobinson’s talk on  the tragedy of the submarine HMS Thetis was a very moving story bearing in mind the tragedies in the southern Indian Ocean and off South Korea which were current at the time of his talk.  

All of these talks have been recorded and will be shortly available on DVD’s 

Our forthcoming events are the talk by Bill Chapman entitled ‘The Romance of Place Names’ on 15^th May. On June19^thFiona Richards will take us on an evening walk to view the Eglwys Rhos and Llandudno Boundary Stones. Following the walk, it is likely that an informal social gathering will be held in a local hostelry. We may well need the refreshments!! On July17^th Jane Kenney will take us on a guided evening walk to Deganwy Castle. This is a follow up of the talk given to us bv Jane in 2013 when she propounded some very interesting theories about the construction methods used on the castle site.

We also have a full series of events for the second half of the year which will include our Annual Lunch on 26th October when our guest speaker will be Professor Robin Grove White. 

By the time you receive this Newsletter, you will know whether or not we survived the field trip to the Llangollen area, involving a steam train journey, a canal barge trip over the World Heritage Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and an evening meal on the way home.

We are extremely grateful for the support of members at our meetings and in our activities. Our membership for the year has already passed 50 and with a little extra push, we may even exceed the grand total of 61 we achieved in 2011.                

You will see from the top of this Newsletter that we have a new domain name for our website. We have also engaged the services of John Fotios to transfer the content of our current website to a WordPress format which is more manageable and more user-friendly.  

We send our best wishes to all our members for a hot, happy and pleasurable summer.

 Spring 2014