CARDIFFREMEMBERED Author met many of his sporting idols for the Yesterday book series

WHEN I was coordinator of the City Hall-based Historic Records Project in 1989, I had the honour of writing the foreword to a popular city history book.

It was volume 21 of Stewart Williams’ magnificent series of 36 Cardiff Yesterday books.

So I was delighted when in 2004 Stewart returned the compliment by writing the introduction to my then latest book, A Cardiff Century: A Capital City For Wales.

This came about after the then editor of the Echo, Alastair Milburn, approached me to compile a book as a special tribute to celebrate Cardiff’s 100th birthday as a city and 50th anniversary as the capital of Wales in 2005.

Stewart, born in the Roath area of Cardiff in 1925, was brought up in the Ely area of the city.

Like myself, he had no academic background. However, he went on to publish around 100 books.

In his introduction to A Cardiff Century, he wrote: “Memory is such a precious thing.

“In 1985 I received a letter from Dr DS Campbell of the League of Friends of St Mary’s and Llandough Day Hospitals.

“He wrote: ‘Our occupational therapists have noted the therapeutic response which your books provoke in patients when they see photographs of scenes familiar to them in the past.’”

Stewart went on to say that this gratifying reaction was repeated many times during the 20-year life of the Cardiff Yesterday series, and was an additional bonus to the pleasure of compiling and publishing the books.

In his search for photographs, Stewart met several of his sporting idols.

He wrote: “Who could fail to be