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Extreme Welsh nationalists are up in arms that a church where the leader of a paramilitary organisation is buried in the graveyard has been closed and may now fall into the hands of an English family, The Eye can disclose.
Extremists revere Silian Church near Lampeter as the burial place of Cayo Evans, one time leader of the Free Wales Army (FWA).
But now it has emerged it has been forced into closure and after the local people let it be known they wanted to buy it for a community centre, it was revealed the maintenance and ongoing costs were too much.
Church treasurer Nikki Vousden said: “It is a heart-wrenching loss to the congregation and a terrible loss to Silian”.
The shock news that the church may now be sold and an English family could buy it has enraged extreme Welsh nationalists.
Evans was the leader of the FWA which came to prominence in the 1960s and it has been reported that the Official IRA (OIRA) gave or sold, most of its weapons to the organisation as part of its turn away from political violence.
His grave has become a shrine for former supporters of the FWA ever since his death in 1995 and flags are often placed on the site.
Royston Jones who writes an acerbic right wing blog under the pseudonym Jac o’ the North has praised Evans as a “friend” and “comrade”.
He posted a picture of Evans pointing a gun at the camera, and his blog proclaims it is: “Interpreting Wales from a Right of Centre Nationalist perspective”.
The Chairman of Mr Jones’ new Welsh independence party Ein Gwlad (EG) has warned that Wales should not be a “dumping ground for (English) misfits”.
The information about Silian church could now have political ramifications in the extreme nationalist Welsh community, after Mr Jones eventually founded EG.
Following our revelations about his connection with Evans and news on The Eye of his publication of him with a pistol, a hotel where Mr Jones was to announce the formation of EG sent a message to him saying: “With regards to … concerns, we have now cancelled your meeting room with full refund of payment”.
He then advertised on his blog a new venue, with the words: “I am delighted to announce that a meeting has been arranged for November 18th in Aberystwyth to discuss the formation of a new political party to defend Wales’ interests”.
Before this a ‘public’ meeting was held in Autumn 2017 and we disclosed how Mr Jones had initially pledged to create the new party by early last year, with an Annual General Meeting (AGM) penciled in for March 3 2018, but nothing happened.
EG was finally unveiled at Llanelli later last year and another nationalist blog had ‘reported’ earlier that a first ‘conference’ was to be held before the end of 2018.
Meanwhile Mr Jones’ support for the FWA and Evans, as well as previous statements have been questioned, and it seemed our Editor had become something of an irritant.
On November 19 Mr Jones had written on his blog: “The meeting yesterday went very, very well. I was delighted with the turnout and with the enthusiasm shown…perhaps the one disappointment – given the interest he’s shown in the new party – was that Phil Parry of The Eye wasn’t there. You could have had a scoop, Parry – ‘Shock! Horror! irritating little git thrown out of meeting”.
On November 22 he wrote after an article on The Eye: “Following Phil Parry’s latest attack on me I asked for the right to reply (there has been no such request), but he hasn’t responded. I’d prefer to ignore the irritating little git but he is now making serious and misleading allegations that have to be answered”.
Mr Jones may have blamed our Editor in the past, but he has used ‘lies’ before in describing him.
More than three years ago he called Mr Parry “a lying bastard” and dubbed him “vermin”.
Mr Jones said on Jac o’ the North: “That lying bastard Phil Parry never misses an opportunity to twist or invent ‘facts’”. He continued: “He’s a mouthpiece for the Labour Party (many of The Eye articles have been about the misdeeds of Labour politicians) and often ‘trails’ stories for Llais y Sais (we never write ‘trails’ for other organisations)“.
Evidently Mr Jones is unaware of legal rules as these comments are highly-defamatory, and as they have been published fall under the remit of libel laws.
Mr Jones’ attempt to create the new independence party was also the subject of our satirist Edwin Phillips, and came soon after controversy was prompted by his personal views.
Mr Jones has also promoted a petition calling for social housing only for people from Wales. Families from London who took homes from a Welsh housing association were heavily criticised, and they were called perverts. But readers have been dismayed in the past by what has appeared on Mr Jones’ blog.One commentator on The Eye said: “The man (Royston Jones) and the knuckle draggers that follow him are fascistic ethnic nationalists end of and don’t really deserve the air of publicity except to say that wales has an alarmingly high number (of) far right supremacists who have convinced themselves they have oppressed status so think its okay to demonise ordinary people like retirees from English cities who’ve moved within their own nation state”. Another critic of Mr Jones told us: “I feel like taking a bath after I read his stuff”.
Extreme Welsh nationalists like Mr Jones may now be the ones taking a bath if the grave of their hero is sold to an English family…
Phil Parry’s memories of his extraordinary 35-year award-winning career in journalism as he was gripped by the incurable disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major new book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order the book now!
