Gareth Williams
Lal
Lord Williams of Mostyn (5 February 1941 – 20 September 2003)
Those of us in the UK will be all too aware of the news of the sudden death of Gareth Williams on Saturday 20th September at his home in Gloucestershire. It was sudden and it seems to have been caused by a heart attack. I am sure that we all wish to express our deep sympathy to his family, his close friends and his colleagues at the highest levels of government.
Gareth was a member of our reunion group although he had not been able to make any of our reunions due to pressure of work. It was a matter for immense pride to us all that Lal had done so well, demonstrating what could be achieved given both the education, values and opportunities which flow from the great school of which we were all a part.
All his contemporaries will have memories of him and he appears in several of the photographs on our website. For my part I remember him in choirs and in a quartet put together to sing a specially composed version of "For he's a jolly good fellow" for Stan's farewell celebration.
His cut and thrust in debate was clear in those days and I particularly remember those debates in which Barbara McCartan was on the opposite side. In a debate in the subject of "banning the bomb" when the nuclear threat of the superpowers was all too evident I recall that he reflected that if all weapons were progressively removed from the nations of the world, power would depend on which country had the most people. China! Did we really want that? The rise of that country's industry at the present time poses a threat but not of the same nature or malevolence but it never the less poses a challenge.
I also remember an occasion where he explained that should you find yourself in London without accommodation for the night the trick was to get arrested for vagrancy since the authorities would have to provide bread and breakfast free! I doubt whether he took up his idea.
Gareth's father was the headmaster at my primary school, Christ Church in Rhyl, and I have a great deal to thank him for in my educational development by taking care to put me in what I believe then and now to be the right class.
I wrote to Lal on two occasions recently, the first to invite him to open my company Geotechnics' new office in Chester (but still in Wales!) formally on the 24th September and the second to send him our company's newsletter. He responded quickly to both and explained that he would be away on holiday for the opening since it was just prior to the Labour Party Conference. I will treasure his thoughtful and courteous replies and his good wishes.
His untimely death leaves a hole in government and in all our lives. His achievement will serve as a model for future generations of what is possible for the individual and for society. The numerous obituaries on television, radio and in the newspapers are a testimony to him and what he represents in the society and generation of which we are a part. He was a great man. It is a privilege to have known him.
Len Threadgold
21 September 2003
Should you wish to express your reaction, we will put it on our website www.rhylgrammarschool.org
Gareth Williams
Gareth Williams
Lal
Lord Williams of Mostyn (5 February 1941 – 20 September 2003)
Those of us in the UK will be all too aware of the news of the sudden death of Gareth Williams on Saturday 20th September at his home in Gloucestershire. It was sudden and it seems to have been caused by a heart attack. I am sure that we all wish to express our deep sympathy to his family, his close friends and his colleagues at the highest levels of government.
Gareth was a member of our reunion group although he had not been able to make any of our reunions due to pressure of work. It was a matter for immense pride to us all that Lal had done so well, demonstrating what could be achieved given both the education, values and opportunities which flow from the great school of which we were all a part.
All his contemporaries will have memories of him and he appears in several of the photographs on our website. For my part I remember him in choirs and in a quartet put together to sing a specially composed version of "For he's a jolly good fellow" for Stan's farewell celebration.
His cut and thrust in debate was clear in those days and I particularly remember those debates in which Barbara McCartan was on the opposite side. In a debate in the subject of "banning the bomb" when the nuclear threat of the superpowers was all too evident I recall that he reflected that if all weapons were progressively removed from the nations of the world, power would depend on which country had the most people. China! Did we really want that? The rise of that country's industry at the present time poses a threat but not of the same nature or malevolence but it never the less poses a challenge.
I also remember an occasion where he explained that should you find yourself in London without accommodation for the night the trick was to get arrested for vagrancy since the authorities would have to provide bread and breakfast free! I doubt whether he took up his idea.
Gareth's father was the headmaster at my primary school, Christ Church in Rhyl, and I have a great deal to thank him for in my educational development by taking care to put me in what I believe then and now to be the right class.
I wrote to Lal on two occasions recently, the first to invite him to open my company Geotechnics' new office in Chester (but still in Wales!) formally on the 24th September and the second to send him our company's newsletter. He responded quickly to both and explained that he would be away on holiday for the opening since it was just prior to the Labour Party Conference. I will treasure his thoughtful and courteous replies and his good wishes.
His untimely death leaves a hole in government and in all our lives. His achievement will serve as a model for future generations of what is possible for the individual and for society. The numerous obituaries on television, radio and in the newspapers are a testimony to him and what he represents in the society and generation of which we are a part. He was a great man. It is a privilege to have known him.
Len Threadgold
21 September 2003
Should you wish to express your reaction, we will put it on our website www.rhylgrammarschool.org
Len's letter to Gareth's family is viewable by clicking here.
Shocking news about Gareth (Lal) Williams, our star classmate. The nation has lost a very talented and good man that we had the priviledge to know. Visions of mortality......
Neville Dutton - UK
I was shocked to hear of Gareth's passing. At such a young age. I always remember him as a serious competitor throughout school. The only time I really did him in was for an essay prize given by the local Rotary Club. Joe Mesham,our wonderful history teacher vetted and transformed my own contribution entitled "Ordinary Standards of Morality Do Not Obtain in International Affairs". I read my piece to all the local worthies and received five quid. The most important point was that someone from the science sixth had done in someone from the Arts side. Not been done before.
Still, I never went where he did.
Alun Jones - USA
How sad to hear about Gareth Williams - sounds as though there will be considerable difficulty in finding another House of Lords leader of the same calibre.
Roger Nuttall - UK
Lal's brother geraint known as Pug was in my class and I am sure all are profoundly shocked.
Peter Maccutchan - UK
What a shock to hear of Gareth's death. I wasn't in the same year as Gareth but remember him very well, and especially from Christ Church CP. I was one of his sister's (Catrin's) attendants at the Proclamation of the National Eisteddfod when it was in Rhyl; she was in the procession carrying the Horn of Plenty. I have a photograph somewhere of the procession taken in Vale Road on the way to the Eisteddfod field at the corner of Bryn Cwnin opposite where Sainsburys is today.
I caught an interview with Gareth on BBC2 last November when I was over in U.K. on a current affairs program. Thoroughly enjoyed listening to him speak and remembering him from school.
Val Harrison - Canada