A TRIBUTE TO MY FELLOW ACTIVIST, HUSBAND AND SOUL MATE GETHIN AP GRUFFYDD. APR 11 1946 - Sept 18 2025

 

Sadly,  Gethin passed over on Thursday the 18th September following a long illness, he died at home surrounded by his loving family and will be missed greatly by family, compatriots and all others who had got to know know him well  over the years.

Gethin was far from being an 'ordinary' man,  he was a passionate Cymric patriot. He was born and raised in Merthyr Tudfil, a town steeped in rebellion but, Gethin, like all of his generation was not taught the rebellious history of that town or any other Cymric history in the classroom and his first ever encounter with Cymric history came as a punishment for being naughty in class at his primary school whence he was told to stay behind and tidy up some boxes of books and as he did so, he came across a book entitled 'Pull Up The Drawbridge' (I think that is what it was called) Gethin began to read it and found that it was all about the battles of the Cymric Princes against the Anglo Normans and, as he has said on many occasions as he recalled that moment, that was his 'Zardos' moment,  the seed of a national awakening had  been sown in him and a flame had been kindled that could never be estinquished throughout the rest of his life.

But this tribute is not meant to be a biography of Gethin's life, that has already been done by myself in the film Bamn Cymru which consits of a lengthy interiew that I did with Gethin where he reveals all about his upbringing, his school days, his political stance, the many patriotic movements that he established, and his numerous campaigns over the years, his imprisonment for organising the Anti Investitur Campaign and for organising the FWA and much more. You can find this film on my You tube channel see following link:  

  

   

This tribute is to briefly show the multi-dimensional character of the man I dearly loved and respected; not only was he a passionate Cymric patriot and activist, he was absolutely 100% genuine in his patriotic beliefs and was more than ready to go the whole mile and spend every penny he possessed to rigorously campaign pro-activly to fulfil his ambition to see Cymru liberated and Cymric lands restored to the Cymric people once more.

A period in exile in Ireland and participating in National Commemorative events there  had inspired him to establish the Cofiwn movement when he returned to Cymru as a means of educating the Cymry of our history by the holding of Cymric Commemorative events and educational field trips to important historic sites in Cymru. It was the use of the Irish Lily as a commemorative  logo by the Irish that also spurred him on to establish the Ivy leaf as Cofiwn's logo and symbol of Cymric Remembrance.

Not only was Gethin proactive on the ground, he also opened copious blogs under the Umbrella of his main blog of GETHIN AP GRUFFYDD so,  again,  so get a full insight into what Gethin was all about, I would advise and encourage one and all to plough your way through each and every one of these blogs. 

The 'personal' Gethin was my beloved husband and soulmate, we had worked close together on numerous campaign for 48 years, he was also a loving father to Mari, Rhian and Roisin, was the much loved grandfather of Gruff, Cai, Mabon and Iestyn and was a loving brother to Owain.

Below are  a mere few photos of Gethin the  activist and Gethin the family man. A great many more will be shown on screen during his funeral  of which details will be revealed in due course.