ON FEBRUARY 1 Andrew ‘Pwmps’ Davies, a highly-respected and talented TV cameraman, whose family also own Siop-y-Pentan in Carmarthen, passed away at just 52 years of age after a long and valiant fight with cancer. We extend sincere condolences to his widow Llio and their children Brieg, Gronw, Efa and Iago. Local councillor, journalist and lay preacher Alun Lenny, life-long friend and former colleague, who officiated at his funeral, pays a personal tribute.
It was my birthday on February 1st, but there was little cause for celebration. I was rushing up the wide steps outside County Hall on my way to a meeting when my mobile rang and Llio Silyn Davies told me her husband Andrew had died that morning. He’d finally lost the long battle with cancer. Would I officiate at the funeral? Of course. It would be a great honour.
I looked back down the steps and my mind raced back thirty years to the mid 1980s, when, in the days of Dyfed, we’d stood on this very same spot filming countless lobbies and demonstrations; Ken ‘Mayfair’ Davies as camerman, Andrew as his sound recordist me as the S4C reporter with Gerry Monte for Wales Today. It struck me that it was a fortnight to the day when I’d officiated at Ken’s funeral. Exactly a week later, I’d be taking Andrew’s funeral.
Andrew Davies was born and bred in Llanpumsaint, where his parents ran the petrol station – hence Andrew Pwmps, or just plain Pwmps. He trained as an electrician and set up a mobile disco (still all the rage in the early 1980s!) and drummed for rock group Eryr Wen. When Ken rang one day desperately seeking someone to ‘train up’ as a sound recordist, I suggested Andrew. So began a glittering career in the media.
My memories of filming with the two are legion. Wading waist-deep through flood water, filming summer cottages in flames during the Meibion Glyndŵr arson campaign, recording the despair of workers who lost their jobs when the Johnstown creamery closed, seeing hundreds of farmers protesting against milk quotas bring Carmarthen town to a standstill, facing the anti-press anger of flying pickets before dawn in various collieries, staying up all night to film the ‘battle’ between bailiffs and CND protestors at the site of the Carmarthen nuclear bunker, and countless other stories.
Around 1987, Andrew moved to north Wales and became a cameraman filming programmes for S4C, such as Hel Straeon, Ffermio and Cefn Gwlad. As a creative and technically masterful cameraman he was always in demand. But Andrew was also a pleasant and joyful character who enjoyed conversation, be it in a farmyard or over a glass of red wine. He also worked in a number of other countries for current affairs – in South Africa, South Amercia and Berlin when the wall came down. I enjoyed his company during a shoot in Oklahoma with TAs from Carmarthenshire in 1994.
In north Wales he met and married Llio, who acted in the Oscar-nominated film ‘Hedd Wyn.’ They settled in Carmarthenshire and had four children: Brieg, Gronw, Efa and Iago – now all grown up. For many years, Andrew’s late mother Nancy worked in Siop-y-Pentan, the Welsh shop in Carmarthen market. The owner was Wyn Thomas, now Deputy Mayor of Carmarthen. When Wyn retired, Andrew and Lio bought the shop.
After several operations and various treatments for cancer, Andrew finally lost the battle. The passing of such a talented and popular person was widely reported in the press and media in Wales. His coffin, draped in the Red Dragon flag with wreaths of early daffodils, was followed by hundreds of people into the crematorium at Llanelli. Tributes were paid by old friends Ioan Hefin and Dyfrig Davies, with contributions by the Revds Beti-wyn James and Ken Williams. All who knew him would agree that our world is truly a poorer place without Andrew Pwmps.”
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