"On Wednesday 21 November two bus loads went to Liverpool to protest against the flooding of the valley after Liverpool City Council announced their intention to build a reservoir there. I decided not to go to school that day and that I had to join the protest against this mad plan.

I started walking from Fron-goch. About half way to Gelyn a car with two men inside stopped and asked me where I was going. I told them I was off to Liverpool to show my support. The camera appeared instantly. They both worked for the Daily Post. This was in the paper the following day:

'Elwyn Edwards, a thirteen-year-old schoolboy, walks seven miles to the village of Capel Celyn to catch a bus taking the villagers of the doomed valley to Liverpool to protest against the drowning of their homes.'

The seven miles was an exaggeration, of course!

When we got to Liverpool the police escorted us through the city. My most vivid memory is seeing some of Liverpool's toothless women watching us from the side of the road, shouting and spitting at us. Others were cursing us mercilessly and calling us all kinds as we marched with our banners. There would have been an affray if it hadn't been for the police.

I was a pupil at Ysgol Ty Tan y Domen, Y Bala. A couple of days after the protest the Headmaster called my name out during assembly and said he wanted to see me. I wasn't ready for what came next. He came into the office - his cane in his fist shouting something in English about how I'd missed school to go Liverpool and wasted time protesting against the flooding of a worthless place like Cwm Celyn. If the threat to the valley stirred nationalism in me, that cane made sure that it would become stronger."

A translation of an excerpt sent in by Elwyn Edwards.