Plaid Cymru Pontypridd On Your Side

Sadly, former Plaid Cymru Councillor Brian Arnold passed away on the 28th of January 2023.  His funeral was held on the 6th of March in Glyntaf Crematorium followed by a funeral tea in Zion Chapel, Ynysybwl.

Below you can read Heledd Fychan MS's eulogy to Brian from the service.

A few months before the May 2021 Senedd election, when I was elected for the first time as a Senedd member, Brian rang me. He wanted to apologise that, because of ill health, he wasn’t able to deliver leaflets, as he had always done and he wanted me to know how sorry he was. I could tell how heartfelt the apology was, and how painful it was for Brian that he couldn’t do what he’d always done for decades to support countless other Plaid candidates. He was just as eager to be out on the streets, persuading people to vote for the party he’d dedicated his life to promoting and serving and was clearly frustrated that his body wouldn’t allow it.

After the election, he was one of the first visitors to pop into my office in Pontypridd, making sure to bring me lots of reading material about different community groups in his beloved Ynysybwl. He pressed on me the importance of making contact, and offering support, making it very clear that I
needed to prioritise Ynysybwl in my work.

In May 2022, no one was more delighted than Brian when Amanda Ellis and Tony Burnell were elected as Plaid Cymru County Borough Councillors for Ynysybwl, and then, following Tony’s untimely death, Paula Evans was elected to succeed him. Though he couldn’t be out on the streets campaigning, he made sure his support was known by plastering his window and car with Plaid Cymru posters leaving everyone in no doubt that the candidates had his full support.  

After all, Brian had been a member of Plaid Cymru for 66 years, since he was sixteen and in his own words, he joined Plaid because he believed Wales is a nation and nations should be independent.