December 10th, 2008
Another photo from the Tresaith school camp in July 1983 with 1 Owain.
In the photo : front row (left) Craig Duggan and (right) Jonathan Dunn.
Behind the window pane, Richard Hughes.
If I can blow my own juvenile trumpet, I think there’s good composition in this photo.
Craig Duggan worked for the BBC for some time and, latterly, he went on to work for Powys County Council as part of their Menter Iaith (Welsh Language initiative). But what happened to Richard and Jonathan ?
Categories: Clywch |
Tags: 1 Owain, 1983, bbc, craig duggan, photos, school camp, tresaith, ysgol gyfun rhydfelen | 2 Comments
November 8th, 2008
In 2001 John Owen took his own life rather than face a criminal trial for allegations of serious criminal offences against children.
The Clywch Report documents the first serious complaint made by a member of school staff about John Owen in November 1983.
In Chapter 10, entitled ‘Early Warnings’, the Clywch Report documents an incident which happened in November 1983 as witnessed by school cook Peggy Newbury (mother to famous S4C cook Dudley).
It involved a child sitting in a state of undress on John Owen’s lap in his office in Gwent block.
Among the Senior Teaching staff at Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen school who were notified about this incident were : Eirlys Pritchard Jones and Dafydd Jones, who was the school’s new Headmaster.
This part of the Clywch Report is very interesting in my opinion.
It clearly explains to me that John Owen had a perverse interest in children at this point in his life.
Go forward eleven months, and at the Urdd Llangrannog camp site my life would be changed forever because of this perversity in John Owen’s character.
The Clywch Report notes that the November 1983 incident was “a missed opportunity for thorough investigation. Such an investigation might well have yielded sufficient information to have forestalled the considerable suffering that was to ensue.”
How do I feel reading this ?
I could not read the Clywch Report at all until the end of 2007. Such was the pain it caused merely to evoke memories from my time with John Owen and subsequent years in Rhydfelen.
Today, I feel less fear, less numbness, and less anger.
The media in Wales often publish a ‘Clywch Timeline’ - see the BBC’s example here.
Unfortunately, they try to portray John Owen as a man who only ever attacked his drama pupils.
The truth is not always as simple and unambiguous.
Writing my own history into a timeline helps me tell you my story and this story-telling affirms I exist, I have a history, I have memories, I have feelings and, I have a future.
Categories: Clywch |
Tags: 1984, 1987, anger, bbc, child abuse, clywch report, clywch timeline, dafydd jones, drama, dudley newbury, early warnings, eirlys pritchard jones, fear, feelings, future, gwent block, john owen, llangrannog, memories, numbness, peggy newbury, perversity, s4c, senior management, senior teaching staff, timeline, ysgol gyfun rhydfelen | No Comments
November 6th, 2008
I am one of nine former pupils of Rhydfelen school who brought a legal action for personal injuries arising out of school experiences.
What went wrong at Rhydfelen school is documented in the Clywch Report prepared by the Children’s Commissioner for Wales and published in 2004.
I was not a part of the drama life of Rhydfelen school as were all the other eight former pupils.
I was attacked by John Owen in 1984 after my parents complained about his interference in my education.
My parents were the first to complain to the school about John Owen, but their complaint was ignored by the school management and education authority.
A few years later John Owen would expel me from Rhydfelen, thus ending my school education and ensuring I was not in school to accuse him of wrongdoing.
In January 2008, Hywel James of James & Bulteel Solicitors prepared a Legal Aid Application on my behalf. He represented all nine former pupils in a joint legal action.
The Legal Aid Application was handled by the Legal Services Commission.
A Court Hearing in Cardiff was due to go ahead in mid August 2008.
In early August 2008 I had not received a reply from the Legal Services Commission, despite the fact they received the initial Application eight months previously.
I therefore asked the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, my Member of Parliament and Assembly Member to help me elicit a reply.
With no legal representation, on August 18th 2008 I attended Court in Cardiff to represent myself in the Clywch legal case.
After this Hearing the last of the 8 other Clywch Legal Cases were settled out of court.
The education authority responsible for what went wrong in Rhydfelen did not want to defend what happened to school children in Rhydfelen.
My case remains unsettled. Without legal aid funding there was no case preparation and thus settlement was not possible.
In late September the BBC and other media used a Press Release prepared by Hywel James.
The press release suggested the Clywch legal case was settled and the pay-out “draws a line under issues which arose from the Clywch Inquiry”.
As the last of the nine cases, my viewpoint was altogether different.
I wrote to the Legal Services Commission asking them approximately 25 detailed questions concerning the Legal Aid Application prepared by Hywel James.
The Legal Services Commission replied by not answering a single question.
At this point I decided I would not continue hitting my head against a wall of silence.
If our justice system does not want to allow me to tell my story in Court by funding legal representation, I will tell my story as best I can to my family, friends, and other people.
I tell you my story by telling you my name and thus giving up any anonymity. I will tell you where I come from, what I have done in my life, what work I have done, and what happened to me as a school child and how it affected my life.
Being able to tell one’s story is about empowering oneself.
This week I wrote to the Clerk at Cardiff Court dealing with my legal case.
I explained that without Legal Aid Funding to give me Legal Representation I do not think I will face a Fair Hearing at Court.
I confirmed, however, that I will stand before Court in Spring 2009 to represent myself as the last former pupil in the Clywch legal case.
I will not become a victim again.
Categories: Clywch |
Tags: 1984, 2008, ann clwyd, bbc, cardiff civil justice court, childrens commissioner for wales, christine chapman, clywch legal case, clywch report, empowerment, hywel james, james and bulteel solicitors, john owen, legal aid application, legal services commission, settlement, victim | No Comments
