A Machynlleth woman campaigning for a Wales Covid-19 inquiry after her father died in an Aberystwyth care home is hopeful after meeting politicians this week.

Campaigner Catherine Griffiths visited the Senedd after being invited to an open forum by the Conservative party to discuss the campaign for an independent, Wales only Covid-19 inquiry, ensuring adequate scrutiny is applied to the Welsh Government’s handling of the pandemic.

The campaign started after people who had lost loved ones to Covid-19 created a Facebook group, called Covid Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru Group.

Five representatives from the group, including Catherine, met with First Minister Mark Drakeford on 7 October, and are due to have a second meeting on 2 December.

Catherine said the open forum was “very successful” and provided the reassurance, going into the December meeting with the First Minister, that their campaign had “cross party support”.

“Obviously the Conservatives are going to be calling for an inquiry in Wales, so I spoke to several of them,” Catherine explained.

“As they are so pro inquiry, I wanted to talk to them about the issue of masks, because the messages coming down from Westminister is that masks are ‘virtue signalling’.

“I spoke to the Conservatives mostly about mask wearing and the Deputy Leader of Plaid Cymru Rhun Ap Iorweth, and they are very pro it.

“I also spoke to Alun Davies, the MS for Blaenau Gwent, who was very interesting.

“Mark Drakeford’s first thing to do when he came to power was to sack Alun Davies, but he still said he was an honest man and he does the right thing.

“He also said he is getting a lot of pressure from Labour MPs and Senedd members to do a Wales inquiry, so I am quietly optimistic.

“There was a disappointing Labour presence, we expected rather more because they are the leading party and have the most power.

“Following the Senedd forum, I feel we had very many hopeful conversations – cross party. “Not one person we spoke with was against the Wales individual inquiry.

“We had 20 Senedd members and the guy who runs these things and looks after people like us in the Senedd said people don’t usually get that.

“As I said to them, you cannot have responsibility with accountability, decisions made in Wales, for the people of Wales, need to be scrutinised in Wales.

“We can go forward to our meeting with Mark Drakeford with the knowledge our campaign has cross-party support.”

Catherine joined the campaign after her father, Harry Griffiths, died in MHA Hafan Y Waun Care Home in November 2020, after more than half of the residents contracted the illness.

Despite suffering with Alzheimer’s, prior to his death Mr Griffiths was in robust health and had a good quality of life.

Mr Griffiths sadly died with his daughter standing outside his window, in the “icy rain”, and his two sons on a three-way call from Hong Kong.

Catherine is also hoping to start a yellow heart campaign, which would see people plaster yellow hearts across Wales in a hope to raise awareness of the inquiry campaign.