Letter from Capel Celyn Defence Committee to Mr Thomas Alker, 2 July 1956 [image 1 of 2]

Description

This letter was sent to Thomas Alker, Liverpool Corporation Town Clerk, by Elizabeth M. Watkin Jones, Secretary of 'Pwyllgor Amddiffyn Capel Celyn' (the Capel Celyn Defence Committee), on 2 July 1956. The Committee had been established in March 1956, shortly after it had been announced that Liverpool Corporation was intending to build a new reservoir in the Tryweryn valley, drowning the village of Capel Celyn, north of Bala.

The Committee launched a spirited campaign to oppose the proposal to drown Cwm Celyn. In addition to canvassing support from local authorities, individuals and national institutions, the Committee organised a series of protest meetings, conferences and rallies across north Wales and in the city of Liverpool. Ultimately, however, the efforts to halt the building of the new reservoir failed and on 1 August 1957 the Liverpool Corporation Act was passed. Work began on the site three years later and was completed in August 1965.

In this letter, the Committee requests an urgent meeting with members of the Liverpool Corporation, 'to ensure that your City Council, and through it the people of Liverpool are aware of the grounds of the Welsh opposition to the proposed drowning of Cwm Tryweryn'. The Council had already refused this request on two occasions and the Committee members strongly urged the Council to reconsider its position.