Tryweryn Activist Reveals All on Welsh Bombing Campaigns, Life on the Run and MI5

Y Lolfa will be releasing Tryweryn – A Nation Awakes – The Story of a Welsh Freedom Fighter by Owain Williams on the 2^nd of April at Neuadd Dwyfor, Pwllheli, Gwynedd at 12pm.

Self-proclaimed Welsh Freedom Fighter, Owain Williams, aimed to awake the Welsh nation by planting a bomb on the Tryweryn dam in 1963 – the dam that was to drown a Welsh valley to create water for Liverpool. His action, with two others, failed to stop the construction, but roused support from ordinary people who saw clearly the injustice for Wales and the people of Capel Celyn.

In his explosive autobiography, Owain reveals all about his part in the bombing, his life on the run and, further bombing campaigns in the 60s, and life in prison.

Owain said: "I knew it would take a drastic step to stir the required reaction. An explosion was needed that would halt the building of the dam and possibly save the doomed valley. I hoped it would rock the nation and disturb its status quo of respectability; I hoped, more importantly, that it would awaken ordinary people."

In his book, called Tryweryn – A Nation Awakes Owain describes his extraordinary life on the run. Followed by special branch officers, he went on the run in Ireland, was placed in a safe house by sympathetic IRA members, and eventually made his way back to Wales through Liverpool with the unwitting assistance of Cheshire CID, who fell for his disguise as a hitch-hiking Irish student. He was arrested at gunpoint as the suspected leader of a bombing campaign in August 1968 by special branch officers.

Owain Williams has since made a journey from radical to mainstream politics and turned to the democratic route, which rivals the likes of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. He became the chairman of the Independent Wales Party as well as a member of, at different times, both the Labour Party and Plaid Cymru. He is currently the leader of Llais Gwynedd and is a councillor representing the Clynnog Fawr ward on Gwynedd Council.

Tryweryn – A Nation Awakes – The Story of a Welsh Freedom Fighter (£9.99, Y Lolfa) by Owain Williams will be launched on the second of April at Neuadd Dwyfor, Pwllheli, Gwynedd (12pm).

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