GOODBYE TO...
Wales also lost other well-known and much-loved faces over the past year and we pay special tribute to them here...
CARL SARGEANT
THE former Welsh Government minister who had left his cabinet role amid sexual impropriety allegations was found dead just days later.
In a statement at the time, his family said: “He wasn’t simply a part of our family. He was the glue that bound us together.
“He was the heart of our family. We
ELLI NORKETT
TRAGICALLY, the Welsh rugby union player died at the age of just 20 following a car crash.
Elli, from Llandarcy, near Neath, died in a car crash on the A4109 Inter Valley Road between Banwen and Glynneath on February 25.
She has been driving to get a takeaway when her car crashed in “very poor” weather conditions.
Elli was the youngest player in the 2014 Rugby World Cup and had won four caps by the age of 17.
REG BUTTRESS
loved him so very much.
“We are devastated beyond words and we know our grief will be shared by all those who knew and loved him.”
His son Jack is now determined to follow in his dad’s footsteps and has applied to be the Labour candidate for Alyn and Deeside in the by-election on February 6.
Teammates linked arms as hundreds of mourners said their final goodbye to the “powerful princess” at her funeral.
In a touching tribute, rugby shirts from all the clubs she had played her beloved game for were worn in celebration of her glowing rugby career by her friends and some who had been “run over” by her on the pitch.
She was described as “inspirational” and those at the service heard her personality had the power to “light up the room”. ONE of the oldest supermarket workers in Britain, Reg died just two months after finally retiring at the age of 94. Reg was a popular figure at the Sainsbury’s Cwmbran superstore before his retirement in September. Customers often stopped to have a chat with him if they spotted him in the aisles and many had known him since they were children as he had worked there for three decades.
PHILIPPA ROLES
TWO-TIME Welsh Olympian Philippa Roles died at the age of just 39.
The discus thrower, from Neath, competed at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. She also represented Wales at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, Delhi and Kuala Lumpur.