Some would say that the expression 'ahead of their time' is used far too often, but, surely, few would argue that it isn’t a worthy description of Zonia Bowen who passed away recently. Like so many of the people who make a special contribution to our nation, Zonia was born outside Wales, namely in Norfolk in 1926. She came here to study French at Bangor University, but it was with the Welsh language and Wales itself that she fell in love following her arrival. Zonia studied Breton too, and she was the first person ever to publish textbooks on learning Breton through the medium of Welsh. 

Freedom and independence were a golden thread throughout all of Zonia’s work, and, under her leadership, the Women’s Institute branch of Parc, near Bala, gained its freedom from the WI, because the organisation refused to allow the women of Parc to administer the branch through the medium of Welsh. Those women went on to establish an organisation that has become such an inextricable part of Welsh language culture, namely Merched y Wawr, and Zonia was the organisation’s first national secretary, as well as the first editor of its special magazine, Y Wawr. Zonia campaigned against the burial of nuclear waste in Wales in the 1980s under the banner of the Madryn campaign, and she was secretary of Cyngor Dyneiddwyr Cymru for a time too.

Zonia wasn’t a traditional woman, nor did she live a traditional life. She went against the grain and refused to accept that 'this is how it is, and this is how it has to be'. Thank you, Zonia.