‘I’m certain to this day there will be people who think I’m guilty’DAMAGED
SINGER-SONGWRITER ON HOW HOLIDAY HOME ARSON ARREST HIS PARENTS’ HEALTH AND AFFECTED HIS RELATIONSHIP
WELSH-LANGUAGE singersongwriter and actor Bryn Fon has spoken about his arrest over the Meibion Glyndwr cottage-burning campaign as he looked back at the arson attacks 30 years later.
He described how the arrest had a significant impact on his life and spoke about the powerlessness of the campaign to stop second homes amid the current second homes crisis in Wales.
It comes after Welsh language campaigners said the impact on communities of people buying second homes in rural Wales has reached crisis point in the eyes of many in the worst-hit areas.
The singer, who says he struggled to persuade people after his arrest that the police had made a mistake, has now called on the government to bring in laws and taxes to tackle the problem of second homes.
The Meibion Glyndwr movement spanned for almost a decade and was linked to arson attacks on Englishowned holiday homes in Wales, where more than 220 homes were attacked over a 12 year period from 1979 to 1991.
Despite the campaign being operational from 1979, there had been no arrests in 10 years - until Bryn Fon was arrested in 1990.
The arrest came after Bryn Fon and his band, Sobin a’r Smaeliaid, released a track which was inspired by a Crimewatch UK appeal for information on the movement’s arson campaign. The song mocked the lack of progress in the investigation.
In a one-off TV program, Chwilio am Feibion Glyndwr, which will air on S4C this week, the singer will look back at his experience and the Welsh nationalist movement’s campaign at the time.
The program will also include interviews with the only person jailed for acting in the name of Meibion Glyndwr – Sion Aubrey Roberts, and the owner of a burnt-out holiday home. With the current state of the housing market causing concern in communities across Wales however, Bryn Fon debates whether the Meibion Glyndwr campaign was in vain. “I decided to do this program because the present problems with second homes, holiday homes and AirBnbs in Wales, as well as in other parts of the UK such as Cornwall and the Lake District, are only getting worse,” he said.
“I wanted to look at whether there were lessons within the last century that campaigners should’ve learnt in the 70s, 80s and 90s.
“Some had predicted that these problems were to come. But the situation is now a crisis and the housing market is in dire straits. The Welsh Government must act urgently.
“It’s too late for investigations and pilot plans – laws and taxes have to be created.”
The singer, who was 35 years old at the time of his arrest, added that the incident had a significant impact on his life.
He said: “People tend to link holiday homes and Meibion Glyndwr with Bryn Fon
– the connection has been made.
“Mud sticks – as they call it. I’m certain there are people who think to this day that I was guilty of doing something but came out of it somehow - that I got away with it, if you like.
“That’s something I have to accept I guess.”
After five days of questioning, Bryn was released without charge. Although he wasn’t a member of Meibion Glyndwr, he says that he did support the campaign.
No one was injured as a result of the attacks, but Bryn claims that many people suffered, including his own family. “The whole experience had a very negative impact on my family and I,” he explained.
“The children were only young but to see their parents being put in cuffs and being dragged to a police car was very traumatic. “When we were eventually released, they wouldn’t leave our sides – they wouldn’t leave us out of their sights. They would go to sleep cry and sick with worry.
“I couldn’t believe it had happened – I thought it was some kind of a joke, that someone had made a mistake somehow. The whole experience was so bizarre.
“It was a very difficult time for my partner, Anna, because she didn’t know who to believe, no matter how many times I said I didn’t do it. After the arrest, we didn’t seem to get on so well because of the tension it had caused in the relationship.
“It definitely affected my mum and dad’s health – who were ordinary, working class people who thought the police were always right, always did the right thing and there to serve the public. They would never questions whether the police could do anything wrong.
“All of a sudden, this happened and I’m sure they did have their doubts about me for a while.”
Bryn Fon – Chwilio am Feibion Glyndwr will be aired on S4C at 21.00 Thursday, November 25. English subtitles will be available.