Haydn Wyn Davies, (1928–1990),
was from Pontarddulais and attended Gowerton Boys’ Grammar
School. Whilst there he was a cellist in the school orchestra and
was on the very first National Youth Orchestra of Wales course
held at Haberdashers’ Monmouth School for Girls in 1946.
In 1951, he played the cello but in 1952 and 1953 the French horn.
After
school, he attended U.C. Cardiff where he graduated B.Mus., (to
which he added an M.A. in 1966). With the Glamorgan Youth Orchestra
he was a soloist in the 1952 concerts. After National Service he
became Head of Music at Pontypridd Boys’ Grammar School where
he remained for fifteen years. Whilst there he successfully promoted
instrumental music on a large scale, with the school having both
an orchestra and a military band. This Air Training Corps (ATC)
band was formed in 1957, and had full ATC uniform. It marched in
various places on special occasions. Instruments had been donated
from military sources.
In the town of Pontypridd he was active
in light operetta groups and was musical director of the Pontypridd
Operatic and Orchestral Societies. In the county he was a tutor
with the Glamorgan Youth Orchestra.
He vacated the classroom when he moved in 1967
as music advisor for Caernarfonshire, later Gwynedd. Whilst there
he founded and became conductor of the Côr Ferodo, later to become
the Côr Meibion Caernarfon. He led them to win the first prize
in the 1972 Haverfordwest National Eisteddfod, and in 1975 at the
Bro Ddwyfor National at Cricieth. He also took the choir on a successful
visit to Canada in 1972. In 1973 he conducted the choir in the
Albert Hall at the St. David's National Festival. He also conducted
the north Wales Montiverdi Singers, and the Caernarfonshire Youth
Choir.
His next move was to become an H.M.I., (Her Majesty’s
Inspector), for Music in Wales, which also saw him move to live
in Aberystwyth. In this role he promoted the Kodály Method of music
teaching, developed by Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály. Within
the town of Aberystwyth, in the mid-1980s he took over the baton of
the Philomusica — an orchestra composed of members from ‘town
and gown’. The orchestra held two concerts per annum, but
he introduced a third for children, as well as inviting celebrities
such as Johnny Morris to relate musical tales. Also in Aber in
1983, he formed Cantorion Padarn a madrigal group similar to the
one he had established in Caernarfon.
In his personal life, Haydn married Janet Ann
Jones in Bridgend in 1961. They had one son, Dafydd. Haydn died
a relatively young man at the age of 61 in 1990.
Helena Braithwaite, MBE, née
Davies, (1938–2018), was also a native of Pontarddulais,
and attended Gowerton Grammar School for Girls. She was Haydn Davies’s
sister. Like her brother she made a remarkable contribution to
music in Wales.
In her teens she gained a place as a cellist
in the National Youth Orchestra of Wales in 1954. She attended
U.C. Cardiff where she graduated B.A. and M.A. She began her career
in the teaching profession becoming head of music at Cowbridge
and Cardiff High Schools. She then moved to the education department
of U.C. Cardiff specialising post-graduate research in music education.
In 1979, she stepped into education administration
becoming music adviser to the South Glamorgan Local Education Authority.
This move marked a step change in the musical activity of Cardiff
pupils, with the creation of three choirs, string chamber music
ensembles, a steel band and the introduction of jazz education
to the city. She also became director of the of the South Glamorgan
Youth Choir, a post she held for 14 years.
She was also involved in the transition from
GCE O-level to the GCSE curricula, as well as working on the drafts
of the national curriculum.
Outside her professional work in education, she
directed the Cardiff Ardwyn Singers for 36 years from 1969 to 2005.
In addition, she worked as education and community officer at the
BBC National Orchestra of Wales helping to bring elements of the
orchestra’s activities into schools and the community.
In her long and outstanding career, she also
became a board member of the Wales millennium Centre and a fellow
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
In 1963, Helena married the rugby player Maurice
Braithwaite. The couple raised two children — a boy and a girl.
In the 1998 New Year Honours, Helena was awarded the MBE for services
to Music Education in Wales. She died aged 80, the funeral
taking place in Llandaf Cathedral in December 2018.
It is somewhat amazing that those two, brother
and sister, should have been so influential in the musical life
of Wales.
Many thanks to Rhys Huws, a former pupil at PBGS, for the help given
during the compilation of this article.
CR, May 2025 |
