Welsh Journals

The plight of one Catherine Williams of Anglesey, a "poor woman reduced in her circumstances" was drawn to the attention of the congregation by Thomas Morgan of Oswestry with the result that she received "5 of the church's collection" in September 1768. Collections were frequently made to help those who had suffered sudden disasters such as house fires, which emerge as one of the scourges of the time. Thus a special collection on 10th February 1765 raised £ 1 3 8'/2 for John David of Llansamlet whose house had been burned. Collections were even made to help entire communities in other parts of Britain which had also experienced fire disasters: Collected upon 15 Dec 1706 at Tirdunkin in Llangevelach towards the relief of the suffering by the dreadful fire in the town of Iniskilling in Ireland the sum of 4s 2d by Mr. Lewis Davies. 16 Nov 1707 Collected in this place the sum of 6s Id for the loss sustained by the fire in Lilleport [Littleport] in the Isle of Ely and by fire in Spilby in the County of Lincoln by us Lewis Davies Thomas Matthews Griffith Thomas. A collection which raised thirty shillings in March 1703-4 was aimed at helping people in difficulties of a very different kind. These were a group of three thousand Dutch Protestants who had fled their homes following the French invasion of the Netherlands during the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-13). This item is remarkable in that it shows how well informed were the members of the congregation about contemporary international events. Not surprisingly, money was also raised to help fellow dissenting con- gregations. Usually such moneys were used to help fund the construction of meeting houses. Naturally, many collections were for meeting houses within a day's travel of Llangyfelach, such as Glyntawe, Neath, Llandybie, Blaenegel (Cwmllynfell) and Laugharne ('Lacharn'). In addition, how- ever, help was also given to those further afield. Thus, on 7th June 1767 the sum of £ 1 1 6 was collected to help pay for a meeting house being built at Pwllheli in North Wales. Likewise, on 4th October 1778, a collection at New Tirdwncyn raised £ 4 7 0 for a meeting house at Llan- brynmair in Mid Wales, whilst a similar collection at the newly opened branch at Sketty raised 9s 3!^d. Probably the explanation for this generosity lay in the fact that Lewis Rees, the formidable and long serving minister of New Tirdwncyn had previously served at Llanbrynmair and