A Nation for All Wales in the Nineties

In the '90s, Wales came of age.

From diversity of language and culture, to nationhood.

It was a true transformation.

Behind it were men and women with vision.

Passionate for what they believed in.

I felt my society really did help

some people re-identify with their Welshness.

Having your own culture makes you confident.

And you're then open to other people's cultures.

It just gave us a voice, where we didn't have.

We would have blended into the massive mix of stuff.

It was the best decision, that as a nation, we made.

This is the story of how Wales forged a new identity

through people with conviction

who created a nation for all.

The '90s was a decade of achievements

that laid the foundation of modern Wales.

There was a growing sense of national self-confidence,

reflected in culture and social diversity.

The site of Welsh in public life

was enriched in the Welsh Language Act of 1993.

And successors in the media and education policy

gave a brighter outlook for the young, bilingual generation.

Our very own One Show presenter Alex Jones grew up in Carmarthenshire,

fluent in English and Welsh.

I love being bilingual.

It's really important to me.

It's a big part of my identity, that I'm a Welsh speaker.

And, for me, it's always been key to who I am.

It's how I've made friends.

It's how I've been educated.

It's how I've socialised.

It's how I've grown into myself as a person, as an adult.

And, you know, it's what I will definitely speak to my children.

In 1995, Alex went to Aberystwyth University to study theatre,

film and television in Welsh.

I knew where I want to be at the end of the three years,

after university. A very, very clear picture.

I definitely wanted to work in media, which was really weird,

because I was still a bit shy at that point.

And so although we did play hard in Aberystwyth University,

when you could go out on a fiver, or even a tenner.

Then, you'd be absolutely hammered.

I did know what the end goal was as well.

And I think that came a little bit from girl power, and suddenly,

the women were very strong.

'And then, I got to work in the Welsh media,

'and may one presenting job was through the medium of Welsh.'

Wyt ti'n ffansio ennill llwyth o wobrau?

Alex found her true vocation when she landed the job

as presenter of Popty on S4C.

This all comes down to the fact that I had the Welsh language

in my back pocket, and therefore,

had the opportunity to learn my craft as a presenter on S4C.

Dewch i weld pwy sy fan hyn, 'te.

Hia, bechgyn.

Hi, Alex.

The image of Welsh culture was changing too.

For generations, many Welsh people had made London their home.

But by the 1990s,

some felt the expat societies there seemed to offer an

old-fashioned portrayal of Welshness.

Actor Stifyn Parri hit upon the idea for a new, more up-to-date society.

But starting one from scratch was a big challenge.

First, he had to think of a title.

I wanted something snappy,

and I wanted something that had a Welsh word.

And there's a Welsh word called sws, which means kiss.

S-W-S. And I thought,

that would be great if that SWS would mean something.

And I thought social, Welsh, sexy.

And I decided, maybe I should have some sexy lips as the logo.

And I thought, or do I know that's got sexy lips?

Catherine Zeta Jones.

Ker-ching. So I was having dinner with Catherine Zeta Jones in London,

and at the end of the dinner I said,

would you mind kissing this piece of white paper,

and we will create a logo out of your lips?

So she left her lipstick mark on this white paper,

I got some friends to then design this logo.

MUSIC: Vogue by Madonna

Stifyn Parri's SWS attracted a glitterati of Welsh expats

to its monthly events in London.

It grew really, really quickly.

It was fantastic.

That made me think, it won't just work in London.

We need to go further afield.

So I found myself in New York, launching SWS there.

MUSIC: Rhythm of the Night by Corona

First there was King Kong, then it was Godzilla.

Now there's SWS New York!

I had all sorts of people, all coming together,

but what they were having when they were there

was a really good night out.

And because I had well-known people as members,

it really helped promote the whole scene.

However, it wasn't just for the luvvies.

SWS was for everyone.

And I feel that SWS really did help some people

re-identify with their Welshness.

In the early 1990s,

the Asian community in Wales was around 40,000,

made up of groups from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Together they represented a very rich cultural heritage,

and diversity of religions and languages.

In 1994, Cardiff hosted its first South Asian Arts Festival.

It was a rare opportunity for people of all cultures

to sample the joys of music of the Punjabi community - bhangra.

Malkit Singh from Birmingham

was the most successful bhangra singer at the time.

Bhangra music was everything to Punjabis who'd grown up in Cardiff,

like Ishar Singh.

Punjabi culture is bhangra, obviously, it's a part of us.

I used to sing and perform at weddings, not as an artist,

but just as a party piece,

I suppose, really, to be honest.

And people say, look, you want to do something,

get involved, form a band, so a few friends, you know,

local lads from Cardiff, we said, look, let's do something.

They named their band 2XL.

We were the only bhangra band in Wales.

It was good, yeah. You're there and you've got that buzz,

performing in front of, be it 20 people, or be it 2,000 people.

We Sikhs love music.

Absolutely and totally love music.

And that's where bhangra comes from, it's, enjoy yourself, be happy,

and share the happiness with everyone.

The Punjabi language was used in all bhangra music.

And for the Punjabi community,

its performance was a way of ensuring

their language didn't die out in Wales.

Our nation was proud of being a society that recognise the value of

language input and culture.

A form of Indian classical dance, Bharatanatyam,

started to find an audience in the '90s.

Its leading exponent was Kiran Ratna.

Bharatanatyam originated from the south of India,

in Hindu temples as a form of worship.

You could basically say anything

with your hand gestures and facial expressions.

I always say to people, it's like learning a language.

With your body, through dance, you can be anything or anyone,

and the language of dance is universal.

And I saw that in practice.

Kiran's successful performances

encouraged her to set up workshops in Indian classical dance

in Cardiff. They were open to everyone.

Some were joining because they were Indian,

and something Indian was happening in Cardiff.

Then there were those who were just intrigued.

One of the girls that came then, and has carried on to this day,

was Megan Lloyd.

She was a student in Cardiff at that time, and said, oh,

I wonder what this is.

And she came along, and what she always says,

is that she got addicted to it.

I think having your own culture makes you confident,

and you will then open to other people's cultures.

I think that's the key, really.

It's about openness...

..that thrived in the '90s in Wales, I think.

I could be open. They could be open.

And we could share happily.

Kiran Ratna toured the country with her own dance company before forming

India Dance Wales in 1998.

MUSIC: Ride On Time by Black Box

Throughout the '90s,

rave dancing captivated the young from all over Wales.

They were drawn by a liberating sense of togetherness.

Gareth Potter was in at the beginning.

You knew something special was going on here,

but you wouldn't go to a club to pick people up.

You didn't go to nightclubs because they were a cattle market anymore,

you went because the atmosphere was cool, and people danced.

The Hippo club in Cardiff was legendary.

The Hippo club was probably the most hedonistic club I have ever been to.

The crowd was an incredible mixture of working-class ravers,

there were students, there was a massive gay presence there.

It was just a club where everybody went and hugged each other.

To this insane music.

Meady Mohamed from Tiger Bay became a long-time doorman at the Hippo.

The atmosphere of the club was in great contrast

to his experience in the Cardiff clubs of his youth.

I felt that the Hippo brought together

colour, creed, gender, you know,

everything that you could want,

it was there.

And as a person who grew up in Tiger Bay,

it was certainly refreshing for me coming into a club that I was in,

and there wasn't going to be a problem.

I wasn't going to be bullied by a doorman.

There wasn't going to be any race issues or anything else.

We did feel proud to be part of a culture of hospitality.

If we could do that and bring people together,

then we've created something.

We've created a unity that was all about peace and love and music.

Just making new friends.

Young people of the '90s brought a fresh wave of vitality

to all walks of life in Wales.

Many benefited from education in Welsh universities.

And political parties saw an upsurge in membership.

One young woman who joined Plaid Cymru was Leanne Wood.

I never really saw myself as somebody

who had a political career ahead of them.

But in 1991 I joined Plaid Cymru after having a conversation with

some members of the youth section of Plaid at the time.

And found people who thought and felt the same

about political issues as I did, and in particular, the state of Wales.

In 1995, Leanne Wood was elected as Plaid Cymru councillor

for Penygraig, where she lived in Rhondda Cynon Taff.

That was good. I was 25 years old,

but it was a really good experience in terms of, work at the coal face,

if you like. Involved in community issues,

really dealing with people's bread and butter concerns.

It was scary.

Anything that you do in life where you really have to push yourself,

I think if you come out the other end

and it hasn't gone terribly wrong,

then you grow and you become stronger as a person

and you get to realise that, yes,

this is not something that is beyond me.

And so cutting my political teeth

in Rhondda Cynon Taff was invaluable, really.

Leanne's determination to help people in the community

was rooted in her own experience

of growing up in the aftermath of the miners' strike.

People were very frustrated, they felt a lack of hope around.

And I did see many of my circle of friends end up in trouble with the law.

And certainly,

that helped me then in terms of where I wanted to go in a career.

Seeing that side of life,

and how people can get into deep trouble without support

pushed me to become a probation officer.

I felt that often

people were finding themselves in the criminal justice system

when things could have been done to stop or prevent that happening.

It was tough for many people, trying to negotiate mental health services,

drug and alcohol support services,

nothing was straightforward for people.

There was a lot are missing in terms of the kinds of thing

people needed to put their lives back on track.

THEY SING DRUNKENLY

In the '90s, the popularity of binge drinking

increased alarmingly amongst young people.

And at the same time, drug abuse reached epidemic proportions.

They were social problems that confronted the leaders

of communities in many parts of Wales.

When Merthyr Vale colliery closed in 1989,

it left redundancy and hardship.

The future looked bleak for the youth of the area.

But in 1996, a regeneration policy began.

One of the leaders of this revival was Jeff Edwards.

He was a child survivor of the Aberfan disaster of 1966.

In the early '90s, he returned to the village after living in London.

I saw a lot of young people hanging about on the streets,

drinking flagons of cider, getting off their heads on drugs.

And there was lots of concern in the village at that time of these

youngsters who were, basically, causing bedlam.

So when I saw these young people who had no hope, no future,

I felt a duty upon me to help them

achieve something in their own lives.

Jeff Edwards set up

the Aberfan and Merthyr Vale Youth and Community Project

and secured European funding for youth employment schemes.

One of the most successful was motor mechanic skills.

These kids love that.

We devised a course, OCN, it was.

So that at the end of the day they could have a piece of paper that says

they were competent to do a particular job.

That made a hell of a difference to

the self-esteem and motivation of these young people.

We bought a derelict cafe in the middle of the village,

and we had European structural funds to renovate that building.

And we brought the first cybercafe to Merthyr Tydfil.

The cafe was opened to provide affordable meals

for people in the community

and then the basement we had this computer suite where people

would be able to access computer skills,

to enhance their employability.

So you had two parts of the community

who were once at loggerheads with each other,

actually brought together in terms of helping each other.

So there was a greater tolerance of what had been happening,

a greater understanding of the community generally.

In 2003, Jeff Edwards was awarded an MBE for his community work.

By the mid-'90s, many people felt

the decisions on social and political issues

should be taken in Wales.

In surveys, there was support for a Welsh Assembly

from nearly half the population.

Soon after Labour came to power in April 1997,

a date was set for a Welsh devolution referendum.

For the first time in a generation,

the people of Wales would vote on the future governance of their nation.

The political parties opened their campaigns in July,

to establish an assembly, or reject it.

Labour, Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru officially supported Yes For Wales.

Tommy Fellows was vice president of the steel union, the ISTC.

It was something that I always thought we needed.

And, in fact, I was actively involved

in leafleting and lobbying to see that we,

you know, that we'd get it.

I thought we had more of a chance of looking after our own country

than what they were doing up in Westminster.

I did a lot of work with Plaid Cymru and, in fairness,

Labour people as well, those who were in favour of devolution.

I just remember spending a lot of time holding street stalls

and trying to persuade people.

The Just Say No campaigners included many Conservative Party supporters.

They argued that an assembly would be a waste of money and Wales was

better represented in Westminster.

Opinion polls showed the vote was too close to call.

Finally, the referendum took place on the 18th of September.

Alex Jones cast her vote

in her hometown of Ammanford, Carmarthenshire.

On the day of the vote it was a no-brainer for me.

And our polling station has always been a primary school

that's up the road, within walking distance.

And I remember thinking, this is brilliant.

I just hope that everybody does the right thing and votes yes,

that we do need an assembly in Wales.

As the count started of over a million votes,

the scene was set for a night of high drama.

The supporters of each campaign held their breath

before each result was announced.

Yes!

36,300...

CHEERING

In Rhondda Cynon Taff, there was a majority for yes.

I'd gone to the count in the Rhondda,

and we'd won the vote there,

but then as the night unfolded, more "no" votes came in,

it became increasingly likely that the "no" position was going to win.

26,712.

A toast to Pembrokeshire.

To Pembrokeshire!

I would agree that they should be a Welsh Assembly, was 42,000...

We had such an emotional roller-coaster,

because I remember being in a friend's house in the Rhondda

and there were a group of us there, we were as low as you could be,

thinking that we'd lost.

Yes!

The "no"s were ahead, with just one result to come.

All the hopes of the Yes campaigners

now rested with the voters of Carmarthenshire.

Finally, just before 3am, the result came in...

26,000...

It was a narrow vote for devolution,

and the Yes campaign won the referendum

by a majority of just 6,000,

a last-gasp victory.

We were jumping around for joy,

dancing around this tiny living room in a terraced house in the Rhondda.

And then we just decided, on the spur of the moment, I think,

three carfuls went to Cardiff.

I think we were tooting the horns all the way.

I was pleased as punch, at least as far as I'm concerned,

it was a step in the right direction.

Suddenly, Wales could now make its own mind up

on laws that would affect education, the NHS.

It just gave us a voice we didn't have.

We were blended into the massive mix of stuff,

where we weren't really that important.

And just going forward for youngsters, for my future children,

for everybody involved who lives in Wales, who cares about Wales,

and uses Welsh as their first language, for me, it was really key.

It was the best decision, that as a nation, we made.

In 1999, the National Assembly for Wales was established

with 60 elected members.

It took up temporary residence in Crickhowell House in Cardiff Bay,

where the old docks were destined to become the heart

of the capital of Wales.

During the '90s, the race was on

to put Cardiff on the map as a world-class maritime city.

Central to the project was the barrage,

to make the largest permanent waterfront in Europe.

Despite objections, the plan went ahead.

And buildings for commerce, housing and leisure facilities followed,

over many years.

But Cardiff also had another massive construction project

on the go, the Millennium Stadium.

Its design manager was Terry Noonan from Swansea.

It was the biggest project that I've worked on.

But it's very simplistic in how it works,

because it's only a series of concrete planks on steel beams,

on columns.

So although it looks awesome,

in engineering terms it is quite simplistic.

The innovative design was key

in winning financial backing for the new National Stadium of Wales.

Construction started in 1997 on the site of the old stadium,

and had to be ready for when Wales hosted the Rugby World Cup three years later.

There was huge pressure for all who worked on the project.

Bob Probert was scaffold supervising foremen.

One of the main challenges was the old stand.

We had to put scaffolding all the way through the top of there.

So we could cut out, and put

the big main steel girders in.

To carry the roof. And then, of course,

you've got the terraces going as well.

So there was a lot of things going on when the roof was going up.

To every Welshman, especially myself and a few of my colleagues,

it was a dream, just to work there.

To go there. To see it completed.

By September 1999, the race was won.

And the Millennium Stadium was ready to welcome its first rugby fans.

It had a fully retractable roof.

For Terry Noonan, it was job done

on a project that captured the imagination of the nation.

It was the most important achievement in my life.

To take what was a piece of ground in Cardiff,

and turn it into a world-beating stadium.

MUSIC: World In Union by Shirley Bassey

The opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup

started on schedule on the 1st of October.

It was a moving occasion for anyone Welsh.

The emotion,

it gets you right there.

And you see your team coming out, you know,

and you're wishing them all the best.

And it took me to a height, that did.

That was absolutely excellent.

Terry took his wife and two daughters to see the match.

We sang the anthem and they were about to kick off, and then,

completely out of the blue, the two of them leaned across holding hands,

saying, "Dad, we're so proud of you. At what you've achieved."

I shed a tear. I did.

Because it meant much more than

anything anybody else in the stadium team could have said to me.

And I saw lots of people outside the stadium on the day, coming up,

shaking my hand, congratulating me.

It was a wonderful ending to a long, tortuous road.

For many, the Millennium Stadium

represented an inspiring image of modern Welsh identity.

Its completion marked a fitting end

to a decade in which Wales came of age.

Amongst our people, there was a growing diversity

and a new-found confidence in a nation for all.

Next week, we see how the stars of Cool Cymru

set out to conquer the world.

MUSIC: Millennium by Robbie Williams

# We've got stars directing our fate

# And we're praying it's not too late

# Cos we know we're falling from grace

# Millennium. #