Website design By BotEap.comOn May 31 of last year, the Rhydyfelin Library closed its doors for what seemed like the last time. The village library, which had been at the heart of the community for more than 50 years, was one of 14 to be closed across Rhondda Cynon Taf, culled, along with safe start centres, swimming pools and municipal theaters by a timid Council all too willing to inflict savage Conservative austerity on some of the poorest parts of Wales rather than take a principled stand against a government of right-wing ideologues seeking to dismantle the welfare state.

Website design By BotEap.comDespite a sweeping campaign of civil disobedience designed to shame the City into rethinking its scandalous closing program, residents were unable to prevent the library doors from slamming shut on that fateful spring afternoon. Although, even then, some of the borrowers politely refused to enter that good night, chaining themselves to the bookshelves in a last act of defiance.

Website design By BotEap.comAnd there the story ends, at least for the forgotten libraries of Treherbert, Ton-Pentre, Penygraig, Ynyshir, Cwmbach, Penrhiwceiber, Ynysybwl, Cilfynydd, Tonyrefail, Nantgarw, Beddau and Maerdy. Buildings that once resounded with the laughter of children and the voices of poets and storytellers, who dished out local knowledge and lifelong learning in the blink of an eye, who hosted monthly coffee mornings for Macmillan and the gathering of the clans to knit, keep fit and, of course, the book club every day of the week were lost forever. The successful implementation of the RCT’s library closure program, or industrial-scale book burning as I prefer to call it, was now the law of the land.

Website design By BotEap.comYou will have seen, I am sure, the one library missing from the atrocious hit list above. The Rhydyfelin Library Support Group, formed in the heat of battle, had recruited a dedicated army of members who would not accept defeat. They were playing a long game: the little matter of the Library being boarded up was not going to deter those who knew that Albert Einstein was wiser to proclaim “The only thing you absolutely must know is the location of the Library.” .”

Website design By BotEap.comA judicial review was sought and won amid scenes of jubilant celebration at Newport Crown Court, a decision respected by the council’s new leader, Andrew Morgan, who brought a more enlightening approach to negotiations with RLSG than previous ones. office holders. Throughout the struggle, as befits a movement to save public libraries, language was central to the campaign’s success, be it in the moving testimonies of borrowers who wrote with sadness and fury to the Pontypridd Observer or in the poetry from local schoolchildren no doubt inspired by the unimpeachable example of Mike Church (one of the ‘feline four’ who had fettered under the Mills and Boon). It was Church who expressed the anger and defiance of a community trying to save itself from the scrap heap with his poem “Upper Cuts,” which quickly became the campaign’s “anthem.”

Website design By BotEap.comIt was also Church who helped plan and curate the inaugural Rhydyfelin Library Festival of Literature and Laughter last October and the even more successful follow-up last night.

Website design By BotEap.comThe Rhydyfelin Community Center (the Library’s temporary home) was packed to the rafters for a joyous celebration of poetry, comedy and songs compared by Mike Church himself. Saxophonist Hannah Morris ushered the audience to their seats before local favorite Paul Rosser (of Watermelons fame) kicked off the act with a blazing folk-rock set, the highlights being his gut-wrenching version of “The Mountain ” by Steve Earle and a memorable composition of his own “Walking on Thin Ice”. Church filled the gaps between performances with readings from his latest collection Free Running with Words. His opening poem “Migration Blues” sees the poet criticize himself as a ‘legal alien: an Englishman in Nantgarw… not welcome in rucks and mauls’, while also making a broader point about adopting a more human approach. to the plight of asylum seekers. “Love Poem” and “Know All” also drew laughs in all the right places, and of course “Upper Cuts” was sure to receive the biggest ovation of the night.

Website design By BotEap.comFellow poet Clare Potter, winner of the John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry, delivered an innovative set of alternative poems that took the audience out of their comfort zone, before bilingual singer-songwriter Aled Rheon sang a beautiful sequence of songs, the selection that it was “Wrap up Warm” and one of my favorite songs of 2015, or any year for that matter, the melancholy ballad “September.” Rheon is currently on tour with the prestigious BBC Horizons project and has a new album ready for release which, based on tonight’s tests, should be an essential buy. Madcap ukulele player Jeff Japers closed out the first half and nearly brought the house down in the process with a couple of riotously fun songs. If his tour de force “I Love Lemonade” had existed at the time of prohibition, America would still be teetotal today!

Website design By BotEap.comThe second half began with Hannah Morris switching to flute for an enthusiastically received selection of musical theater songs, including “Music of the Night” and “On My Own.” Matthew Frederick, pianist and vocalist for one of Wales’ most critically admired bands, Pontypridd’s Climbing Trees, took center stage to play a handful of tracks taken from his successful solo album Live at Long Row. The standout song, for me, was the yearning ballard “Venus and Mars,” which remains my favorite Frederick number, though the bluesy workouts “My Woman” and “Parking Ticket Blues” also went particularly well on the night. With a second Climbing Trees album almost done and dusted off and a handful of classic ballads penned with the talented singer-songwriter Jodie Marie under her belt, all indications are that 2016 could turn out to be a very significant year for the multi-talented musician. Jeff Japers returned to prolonged applause to bring a wonderful and enjoyable evening to a thunderous close with two more songs, “Tigers and Bees” and “Bonfire Night.”

Website design By BotEap.comWhen the definitive story of Rhydyfelin is written there will undoubtedly be a chapter dedicated to the Save The Library campaign that put this small town on the front pages of the South Wales Echo and at the top of the Principality’s newsletters throughout 2014, and perhaps there will be a chapter, too, on the success of the Festival of Literature and Laughter and those ordinary citizens who joined arms in defense of their culture and their community. The residents of Rhydyfelin owe them a great debt.