Hunangofiant D Ben REES

2.Reviews:

i) Unlimited Life: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF D. BEN REES- A Review by the famous broadcaster Dr Huw Edwards of BBC London

D. Ben Rees, a prolific author in both Welsh and English, has excelled himself with his latest typescript Unlimited Life . It is a real triumph, recounting the story of a country lad from deepest Cardiganshire who becomes a lecturer, a journalist, a politician, a campaigner – a driving force among the Welsh in Liverpool – and, above all, one of the most prominent and popular of modern preachers.

The first thing to note is the linguistic style: Ben’s English is both agile and homely, the narrative is modest, the story-telling always clear and snappy. It is a rare gift to write in a way that appeals to the broadest range of readers. I write as a victim of many Welsh ministerial memoirs, most of which tend to elevate the subject to quasi-saintly status.

Forget all that nonsense in this case. Unlimited Life is peppered with revealing accounts, unexpected details, and forthright opinions on some of the great social issues. This is not the usual polite, sedate offering. He delivers quite a few hard blows: some of the targets are predictable, given his political outlook, some less so.

It may well be that most readers will expect the book to deliver its best content in the chapters on Ben’s half-century of service in Merseyside. But for me, the opening chapters on his childhood in Cardiganshire, near the village of Llanddewibrefi, are especially pleasing. Here we have a rich sense of rural Welsh life in the period before and after the Second World War. Ben delights in describing the glory of its Welsh-speaking culture, its local poets and its Nonconformist traditions. (There is a desperately sad reflection later in the book when he returns for his father’s funeral in 1979 and realises, for the first time, that the area has changed its character and lost its robust Welshness.) But in those childhood years, he relied heavily on his grandfather, David Benjamin, as his father was serving in the armed forces for most of the war, and his grandfather’s death in 1943 was a devastating blow for the young boy. Ben underlines his grandfather’s role in directing him towards a life devoted to the ordained ministry.

There are vivid descriptions of staff and pupils at Tregaron County School (it is a disgrace that one of its most accomplished former pupils has never been invited back in the decades that followed his departure in 1955) and there’s plenty of energy in his accounts of football matches (he played against my father many times) and the endless activity of country life in this glorious part of Wales.

One of the most intriguing elements for me (as a political journalist for much of my career) is the account of Ben’s early adoption of Labour (as opposed to Plaid Cymru or the Liberals) as his political party of choice. He became a Socialist from a young age, forming a Labour Club at Aberystwyth University and campaigning for peace and nuclear disarmament. Later in life he would be a Labour parliamentary candidate (he was twice defeated in Conwy by the Conservative Wyn Roberts) but he stresses how well he worked with Plaid Cymru figures such as Cynog Dafis. His decision to be a lifelong Labour man could – perhaps – have been explained in some more detail. He provides a clue in his remarks on the straitened circumstances of his father-in-law, the Revd Arthur Llewellyn, when he suggests that all ministers at that time should have fully understood and embraced Socialist principles.

Ben was a young minister in South Wales in 1966 when the Aberfan disaster happened: his account of being there on the day – and during the weeks and months that followed – is indeed heart-rending. He is at his best in this book describing the pastoral demands of a Welsh minister. His years in Abercynon were indeed eventful, and they included his marriage to Meinwen, a local teacher, in 1963. All who know them will confirm that Meinwen, whose work in Welsh language education also deserves recognition, has been an indispensable part of Ben’s success story. It has been a team effort. Their two sons, Dafydd and Hefin, both successful in their own fields, are sources of great pride to their parents.

Ben was drawn to Liverpool in July 1968, to Bethel Welsh Presbyterian Church, Heathfield Road, and that is where he ministered for the best part of half a century. How on earth did he achieve what seems impossible? He’s been a publisher (his publishing house, Modern Welsh Publications, was started in South Wales in the 1960s), a lecturer and academic, a political and social campaigner, and – above all – a tireless and caring pastor of his flock in Liverpool and beyond.

He produces several chapters on his long period in Liverpool, and I must confess it gave me great pleasure to read an account of the wonderful day in May 2015 when a great crowd congregated in the city (some of them from Patagonia) to unveil a memorial to those who sailed on the Mimosa to establish a Welsh colony in South America in 1865. The Liverpool chapters are full of valuable detail on Welsh life in the city. The reforms instigated by Ben in the chapel community are ones which other urban centres might follow: his beloved Bethel was demolished in 2007 but a new chapel was built and Ben continues to serve his people with sincerity and warmth.

He must be congratulated on producing such a good read. It is not just a valuable typescript, but also an enjoyable one.

ii) ‘DI-BEN-DRAW’: HUNANGOFIANT D. BEN REES

(Y Lolfa, 2015. Pris clawr meddal £12.99)

ADOLYGIAD gan HUW EDWARDS

Gallaf ddatgan yn gwbl hyderus bod y cyfaill D. Ben Rees, un o’n hawduron mwyaf diwyd, wedi rhagori arno’i hun yn ddirfawr: mae ei hunangofiant ‘Di-Ben-Draw’ yn berl o gyfrol. Dyma lyfr darllenadwy a gonest sy’n olrhain hanes bywyd ‘Ben Abercarfan’, mab fferm o Landdewibrefi a dyfodd i fod yn gyhoeddwr a newyddiadurwr a gwleidydd ac ymgyrchydd – yn brif symbylydd bywyd Cymraeg dinas Lerpwl – ac wrth gwrs yn un o weinidogion amlycaf a mwyaf poblogaidd yr oes fodern.

Y peth cyntaf i’w nodi am y gyfrol yw natur yr arddull: mae iaith yr hunangofiant yn ddi-lol a chartrefol, y naratif yn gwbl ddirodres, a’r traethu yn glir a bachog. Camp anghyffredin yw medru llunio cyfrol y bydd ei chynnwys a’i chystrawen yn apelio at ystod eang o ddarllenwyr.

Darllennais ddwsinau o gofiannau a hunangofiannau gweinidogion Cymraeg dros y blynyddoedd. Bu’r profiad yn aml yn un diflas oherwydd tuedd anochel yr awduron i greu byd artiffisial. Yr argraff a geir gan amlaf yw mai seintiau oedd y gweinodogion dan sylw, seintiau’n byw bywydau perffaith mewn paradwys o gapeli gorlawn.

Fe ddylech anghofio’r hen duedd ddiflas honno yng nghyswllt ‘Di-Ben-Draw’. Dyma gyfrol sy’n frith o sylwadau dadlennol a gonest am gymeriadau ac agweddau a phrofiadau a digwyddiadau. Mae gan Ben arddull sicr sy’n cynnal diddordeb y darllennydd, ac sydd hefyd yn gallu synnu a syfrdanu. Peidiwch, da chi, â meddwl mai cyfrol boléit, sidêt yw hon. Mae ’na sawl ergyd loriol ynddi: ceir ambell darged disgwyliadwy (Margaret Thatcher), ond mae ’na ddigon o dargedau eraill, gan gynnwys yn anfarwol Robyn Lewis, sy’n cael cic haeddiannol yn ei ben ôl am iddo watwar y syniad call o gynnal y Brifwyl yn Lerpwl.

Hwyrach y bydd nifer yn disgwyl mai’r penodau ar gyfnod maith Ben yn Lerpwl fydd yn rhoi’r pleser mwyaf. Ond i mi, mae’r penodau agoriadol ar ei blentyndod yn Sir Aberteifi, ar gyrion pentref Llanddewibrefi, yn cynnig blas cyfoethog o’r cynfyd mewn ardal a adwaenid am gyfoeth ei diwylliant a chryfder ei Chymreictod dilychwin (newidiodd hynny yn enbyd, fel y sonia Ben yn y darn ar angladd ei dad yn 1979). Pwysodd yn drwm ar ei dadcu, David Benjamin, oherwydd absenoldeb ei dad yn ystod yr Ail Ryfel Byd, a bu colli ei dadcu yn 1943 yn ergyd drom iawn i’r bachgen ifanc. Ond diolch i’w ddylanwad, gosodwyd Ben ar lwybr crefydd ac yn ei arddegau fe ymdeimlodd â galwedigaeth i’r weinidogiaeth ordeiniedig: ‘Er mai llencyn ysgol oeddwn… roeddwn wedi fy argyhoeddi i’m rhoi fy hun i waith Duw am byth fel gwas yr Arglwydd Iesu’.

Cawn ddisgrifiad lliwgar o staff a disgyblion Ysgol Sir Tregaron (er mawr warth i’r ysgol, ni dderbyniodd yr un gwahoddiad i ddychwelyd yno ers iddo adael yn 1955) ac mae na ddigon o sôn am ei hoffter o bêl-droed (gan gynnwys sawl gêm yn erbyn fy nhad ar Gae Sgwâr enwog Aberaeron) a’i brysurdeb diddiwedd ym mhob agwedd o fywyd cefn gwlad Sir Aberteifi.

Un o’r elfennau mwyaf cyfareddol i mi (fel newyddiadurwr a dreuliodd flynyddoedd yn San Steffan) yw datblygiad credo Sosialaidd y gwr ifanc o Landdewibrefi. Bu Ben yn Llafurwr selog a phybyr ar hyd ei oes. Datblygodd ei ddiddordeb yn y brifysgol yn Aberystwyth lle bu’n un o sylfaenwyr y Clwb Llafur yno, ac yn ddiweddarach bu’n ymgeisydd seneddol Llafur yng Nghonwy (fe’i trechwydd ddwywaith gan y Ceidwadwr Wyn Roberts) ac yn un o hoelion wyth mudiadau heddwch a CND ar hyd y blynyddoedd. Fe bwysleisia bob amser fel y bu’n gallu cydweithio ag aelodau Plaid Cymru ar faterion o bwys ond – nid beirniadaeth yw hon o gwbl – fe garwn glywed mwy am benderfyniad Ben i fwrw gwreiddiau ar dir Llafur yn hytrach na thir y Blaid. Hwyrach bod ei sylw am amgylchiadau cyfyng a chyni oes ei dad-yng-nghyfraith, y Parchedig Arthur Llewellyn o Abercwmboi, yn taflu goleuni pellach: ‘Sut y medrai unrhyw weinidog fod yn ddim byd ond Sosialydd oedd yn ddirgelwch i mi yr adeg honno.’

Cawn ddisgrifiadau ingol o drychineb Aberfan yn 1966 yn ystod cyfnod Ben fel gweinidog ifanc yn y cylch. Bu’r blynyddoedd yn ardal Abercynon yn rhai cynhyrfus, digwyddlawn. Priododd yn 1963 â Meinwen, athrawes ac un o ferched y cwm, ac fel y gŵyr eu holl gydnabod yn Lerpwl a Chymru, bu hithau yn gefn anhepgor iddo dros y degawdau. Cyflawnodd hithau waith pwysig iawn ym myd addysg Gymraeg ac ym mywyd Cymraeg dinas Lerpwl. Ganed iddynt ddau fab, Dafydd a Hefin, ac y mae llwyddiant eglur y ddau yn eu meysydd priodol yn destun balchder mawr i’w rheini.

Denwyd Ben i Lerpwl yng Ngorffennaf 1968, i eglwys Bethel, Heathfield Road, ac yno y bu’n gwasanaethu yn eithriadol o ddiwyd ac ymroddedig hyd y dydd heddiw. Sut ar y ddaear y llwyddodd i gyflawni’r amhosibl? Bu’n gyhoeddwr prysur (mae stori Cyhoeddiadau Modern Cymreig yn werth ei darllen yn y gyfrol a gyhoeddodd ‘Dyddiau o Lawen Chwedl’), yn ddarlithydd, yn academydd, yn ymgyrchydd gwleidyddol a chymdeithasol, ac yn fugail diflino ar ei braidd ddinesig.

Lluniodd sawl pennod ar ei gyfnod maith yn Lerpwl – gan gynnwys esboniad prydferth a theimladwy ar waith bugeilio – a thestun pleser i mi oedd gweld adroddiad ar y diwrnod ysgubol hwnnw ym Mai 2015 pan ddaeth tyrfa enfawr i’r ddinas (gan gynnwys cyfeillion o Batagonia) ar wahoddiad Ben – adeg dadorchuddio cofeb i’r cwmni a hwyliodd ar y Mimosa yn 1865. Mae na drysor o wybodaeth yn y penodau ar Lerpwl. Gellir dweud yn ogystal y dangosodd Ben y ffordd ymlaen i gynulleidfaoedd dinesig eraill: ad-drefnwyd capeli Lerpwl (a dymchwelwyd ei Fethel hoff yn 2007) ond mae’n dal ati i wasanaethu ei bobl yn ddidwyll a ffyddlon.

Rhaid llongyfarch Ben yn wresog iawn ar lunio cyfrol gyfoethog a gwerthfawr. A gyda llaw, dyma anrheg delfrydol ar ddiwedd blwyddyn! Fe gewch fwynhad ‘di-ben-draw’, mae hynny’n sicr.