Welsh Journals

BOOKS RECEIVED WALES THE CULTURAL HERITAGE by D. Ben Rees. G. W. & A. Hesketh, Ormskirk, 1981 ISBN o 905777 16 6 Pp 125. 111. £ 4.50 FROM THE GRASS ROOTS by Idris Jones. D. Brown & Sons Ltd., Cowbridge, 1982. ISBN o 905928 18 o. pp 168. Ill. £ 6.90 PORTRAIT OF A PIONEER by Lyn Evans. Christopher Davies, Llandybïe, 1982. pp. 191. Ill. £ 6.95. MARITIME HERITAGE The Ships and Seamen of Southern Ceredigion by J. Geraint Jenkins. Gomer Press, Llandysul, 1982 ISBN o 85088 985 5 Pp 265. 111. £ 7-5<>- WELSH WOODS AND FORESTS History and Utilization by William Linnard. National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, 1982. ISBN o 7200 0245 1. Pp 203. Ill. L7. The five volumes that have been submitted for review have a common theme which link them together, namely the pioneers who have contributed to our heritage. In this brief survey of the history of Wales since the Methodist Revival, the Rever- end D. Ben Rees in Wales The Cultural Heritage has contributed fourteen chapters on various aspects of Welsh life. He has not followed the well-worn chronological track but instead has considered the effect of the Chapel and its culture, education, the Welsh language and the Welsh Press, the National Eisteddfod, visual arts, etc., on our way of life. As is suggested in the preface, "some ideas and the outlines" have been used by the author in his lecture to societies on Merseyside, and as such -many of the articles provoke thought and would be admirable as the topics of discussion at evening classes. It provides for the non-Welsh speaker an interesting introduction to the rich culture of Wales whilst at the same time gives food for thought for those who held the belief that Welsh culture was immutable. From the Grass Roots could be regarded as the unofficial history of the world renow- ned Welsh Plant Breeding Station. The author, Idris Jones, was appointed laboratory technician by Sir George Stapledon, the first Director, and served for fifty years, retiring in 1974 with the rank of Higher Scientific Officer. He served with the pion- eers whose primary aim was to ensure that two blades of grass grew where only one grew previously. He witnessed the development of the W.P.B.S. and this he has recorded in a readable manner. He deals briefly with the scientific aspect of the work, and the charm of the book lies in his observations of the persons with whom he worked and in his account, interspersed with humorous anecdotes, of the social, recreational and personal aspects of life at the Welsh Plant Breeding Station. Why is it that we had to wait for over thirty years for a biography of such a distin- guished historian and headmaster as Howell T. Evans ? Portrait of a Pioneer by his son provides an interesting account of life at Cwmbwrla (H. T. Evans's birthplace) at the close of the last century; of his period at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, and St. John's College, Cambridge of life at Aberaeron during the first half of this century in addition to an assessment, mainly by others, of H. T. Evans's career and achievement. Lyn Evans in compiling this Portrait was able to use his father's diaries