When I first went to Ysgol Morgan Llwyd in 1965, there were only two year groups ahead of us new arrivals. The school was young, Welsh medium education was young and we, of course, were young and had little or no idea of the sense in which our school was part of an educational and social experiment.

Looking back, most of our teachers were young too, really.

Of course, they didn't look young to us in those days, when anyone over 20 years old who worked in the public sector seemed to have a hair style and to wear clothes that made them look untrendy and middle-aged.

But our teachers were certainly young at heart and they embraced the new challenges offered by a post in Welsh medium education with pioneering zeal. They were ambassadors for a new kind of education and had a new vision of Wales and for the Welsh language. Historically, they were part of a collective response by a generation reacting against the lower social and public status of Welsh, and they sought to extend the use of the language into new domains - especially secondary education.

To us, as children, it was just school and we certainly had no idea of the opposition faced by the founders of the school and the resistance and ridicule which met many of the staff.

To me, as a boy, Welsh medium education seemed quite natural. After all, I had been to Wrexham's Welsh medium primary school. At the time, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, that school was on the same site as Alexandra County Primary School and was simply referred to locally as the Welsh school. (Later it was moved to Hightown and became Ysgol Bodhyfryd).

I was long used to the fact that my friends from the Smithfield area of the town, where I was born and brought up, all went to 'Alex' whereas I went to the 'Welsh school'. In effect, I ended up with two different sets of friends - those in my neighbourhood and those at school.

So the move to Ysgol Morgan Llwyd, where I would learn all these new subjects through the medium of Welsh, did not seem at all strange to me. Nor did the surroundings seem particularly strange - though they might have. The first Ysgol Morgan Llwyd was housed in the wooden huts of the former barracks on Brynycabanau Road. Yes, wooden huts! I remember these buildings - with their gaps between the planks of the walls and the floorboards you always thought might give way, and which were draughty and cold in winter - as clearly as if I had been there yesterday. Between lessons, because the huts were spread out over the site, we would have to go outdoors between lessons - unlike schools today, where children tend to have the same roof over their heads all day.

I also remember that, by modern standards, the equipment available to teachers and pupils in these huts was very basic.

But because the school was small we all knew each other. I soon knew the names of every teacher in the school and the teachers certainly knew all the pupils. This had definite advantages in terms of discipline, but it also gave the school a homely, family feeling. And because the teachers had vision and were committed to the cause of Welsh medium education - because they had a point to prove to the sceptics that surrounded them - I think the education we received at their hands was better than the education we might have received elsewhere. The pioneering spirit they had then in the 1960s undoubtedly helped to lay solid foundations for Welsh medium education in Wrexham.

Today - 40 years later - there are two large Welsh medium primary schools in Wrexham and Ysgol Morgan Llwyd attracts greater numbers than ever. The experiment of these early pioneers has been a great success, though I wonder whether even the most optimistic of my former teachers could ever have imagined the impact their work would have on my home town.

A current pupil writes: "I attend Ysgol Morgan Llwyd at the moment and I am very proud to say so. I have just taken my options and would like to say that four languages are being taught at Ysgol Morgan Llwyd for the first time ever. They are: English, Welsh, French and Spanish. It is a great advantage attending this school and the site of the school has now moved to the old Cartrefle College. The discipline in the school is of a very high standard and the size of the school is growing rapidly. There are some teachers still teaching in our school who remember the huts. There are now five Welsh primary schools in the area of Wrexham. It is a nice feeling to tell someone that you're Welsh and that you can speak your country's language. One thing I have noticed in school lately is that a lot of pupils from English schools have moved to the Welsh school unable to speak the language. Nowadays the school is known as 'moggies'. A sixth form class is now available and technology has come on a long way. There is a computer room in almost every block and there are many overhead projectors, modern science labs and plenty of televisions. The new school has been built to hold 2000 pupils and I think there are about 750 pupils attending. School trips are now school holidays with a chance to go skiing and to Disneyland Paris."