Thank you all very much for coming here today.
Words simply aren’t enough on these occasions. How do you reduce someone’s life to a few sentences?
It may be difficult, but it’s an honour to do so for Huw.
He was a son, a brother, an uncle, he was a husband, and he was a friend.
He was a skilled and intelligent man. I don’t know if you ever saw any of his work, but he had the ability to make some very fine things.
He was also kind, with his knowledge and his time. I could turn to Huw for advice on almost anything practical and receive a ready answer. And that’s how he was, a practical man.
Huw was gentle, and if the saying about the gentleness of Maldwyn was true about any of us, it was true about Huw. Even though he spent most of his life far from the place of his birth in Dyffryn Banw, he returned to mid-Wales in the end.
I know he loved the open skies of the Nant-y-Moch range. He loved the wildness and the simplicity of the land and lakes around Pumlumon. I think his favourite places included the openness of moorland, and the warmth and companionship of the pub.
As I’m sure many of you will appreciate, Huw wasn’t someone who wanted a fuss. I remember his first Christmas in Llanidloes. We’d made a family Christmas card and wanted to send him one. When we asked him for his new address he said he didn’t want us to bother with a card. He didn’t want us to make a fuss. So we had an extra special big card made for him, because some of us did want to make a fuss of this kind man.
We will all have good memories of Huw. Those of you who had been closest to him, his family, all of his friends in Llanidloes: Enid, Nia, Alison, Rhys, Jên, Justin. Hold on to those good memories and bring them to mind now and again. They are the best of him.
May you rest in peace, Huw.