A BUST will be unveiled this month to honour one of Pwllheli’s most famous sons, the poet Cynan.
Sculptor John Meirion Morris was commissioned by Pwllheli Town Council to create a bust of Albert Evans-Jones, known more commonly within Wales by his bardic name of Cynan, who was born in 1895 and raised in Liverpool House.
Clerk of Pwllheli Town Council, Robin Hughes, said: “This is the most recent event for Cynan to be honoured in his hometown. He was a freeman of the town in 1963 and in 1995.
“As part of Cynan’s festival to celebrate the centenary of his birth, a unique gathering of the Orsedd y Beirdd was held.”
Cynan left Pwllheli for Bangor Baptist College in 1912 before joining, in 1916, a special unit of the RAMC with around 250 theological students and others serving in Maedonia where he was obtained and raised to chaplain.
He first made a name for himself with his war poems on the pages of Welsh Outlook. Then, in 1921, he won the Crown with Mab y Bwthyn – in the opinion of many, the most popular poem ever to win the prize – and published his first volume of poems, Telyn y Nos, later the same year.
Caniadau Cynan was released in 1927 and then he won two other Crowns, in 1923 and 1931, and the Chair in 1924.
Between 1921 and 1931, he lived at Penmaenmawr where he served as a Calvinistic Methodist minister.
In 1931 he accepted the post as an external classes tutor with Bangor University and lived thereafter in Menai Bridge until the end of his life.
Mr Hughes added: “He threw himself into the centre of public life in Wales and particularly was interested in the National Eisteddfod.”
Cynan was joint secretary of the National Eisteddfod Council and the Gorsedd Recorder, he also played a key role in reforming its constitution and modernising its ceremonies.
He was Archdruid twice, the only person to have been elected to the position for a second term.
In 1931 he was appointed reader of Welsh plays on behalf of the Lord Chamberlain, a post which he held till the abolition of censorship in 1968.
The evening held to honour Cynan will be held at 7.30pm on Friday, 29 January, at Neuadd Dwyfor in Pwllheli