Cylchgronau Cymru

THE HEDD WYN MEMORIAL On the southern slope of Pilkem Ridge stands an old shell-torn chateau which was used during the battle as a held dressing station. To-day, on the roadside near the chateau, are to be seen eleven little mounds of earth each of these contains the sacred dust of a Welsh soldier. On one of them Is erected a rough slab of wood with the inscription Private Ellis H. Evans 61117, 15th Batt. R.W.F." (1st London Welsh), and on the mound is a wreath of faded wild flowers. That mound with its faded flowers hides the heroic face of Hedd Wyn, the poet, in whose eyes shone the unmistakable light of genius. He was one of the Welsh heroes who took Pilkem Ridge; but while the position was being consolidated he received a mortal wound. Owing to the intense shelling he could not be medically relieved. His wound was a cruel one, and for three hours he suffered untold agony, although his comrades did all they could for him but in spite of his pain they tell us that not a groan once escaped his lips. He was a veritable son of the Merioneth mountains. At last the stretcher-bearers removed him to the dressing-station, but he died on the way there, and was buried with ten others near the chateau. At the National Eisteddfod at Birkenhead five weeks later, his ode to "The Hero" written on the battlefield in the sound of the guns, was declared the best out of fifteen com- positions, and was awarded the Chair and prize, which is the literary blue ribbon of the Annual festival. Hedd Wyn died at the early age of thirty. In civil life he was a shepherd on the Irawstynydd mountains in Merioneth, but his fame as a poet of high promise had travelled far, for he had in the last ten years, won many prizes in keen bardic competitions. He had won four provincial chairs before winning the National Chair at Birkenhead, and was second, according to two of the adjudicators, and first according to the other. in the chair competition at the National Eisteddfod at Aberystwyth in 1916, with his ode to Ystrad Fflur." He had struggled valiantly against great difficulties to educate himself. He had to leave the elementary school at fourteen to take care of his father's sheep but he utilized his leisure to cultivate his mind. He acquired a wonderful knowledge of the Welsh language and its classics, and became a master of Cynghanedd and the Mesurau Caethion. He also learnt English and was well versed in English poetry. There was no library within twelve miles of his home, and he often travelled long and weary miles over the mountain roads to borrow a good book and in the dead of night, Ellis would sit reading and writing and dreaming his dreams, night after night year in year out, until the great call came. Then, like the hero of his own immortal poem, he shouldered his cross and sought his Calvary. His works have been collected and edited, and the volume is now in the Press. There is a wide feeling that the heroism of his life and the tragedy of his death deserves a National Memorial A small National Committee has taken this matter in hand. In con- sultation with the local Committee at Trawsfynydd, it has been decided that the Memorial should take the form of a village library and reading room, to be known as Darllenfa Hedd Wyn (The Hedd Wyn Library), with a statue or bust of the young poet by a good sculptor. His comrades in arms have also expressed a strong desire to see a suitable monument erected over his dust on Pilkem Ridge after the War, with the names of the large number of Welshmen who fell with him carved on its base. A substantial sum of money will be necessary to carry this through. The local Committee has already collected about £ 200 at Trawsfynydd, and the national Committee has also received a number of subscriptions, ranging between £ 300 and half a guinea. Admirers of the poet and friends of Welsh literature and native culture every- where are heartily invited to subscribe liberally towards this worthy object. Subscriptions will be thankfully received by the Hon. Treasurer, Sir Vincent Evans, 64, Chancery Lane, London (a native of Meirionydd); the Secretary of Welsh Outlook, Cardiff; or the Hon. Secretary R. Silyn Roberts, University Registry, Cathays Park, Cardiff, who will give a receipt for each subscription and publish a list of subscribers in the Press.