Hot off the press

Last night the Community Council decided to place a memorial plaque in memory of Sir Cliff Darby. They also charged the History Society with the task of completing the work. It should be noted that neither Gwyn Thomas or Trefor Jones took part in the discussion on funding or the decision which was initiated by Councillor Ken Evans and passed unanimously. However, it was very pleasing to see that it was a page from our website which was being passed around the meeting! The decision will have to be confirmed in January and hopefully we will then be able to proceed with the task of completing this work to note the contribution of a truly great son of this community. A quote from the current edition of Geography: An International Journal, needs no explanation as to the prominence of Clifford Darby within his chosen discipline.

" For a number of years, the magazine included a feature entitled 'Late Great Geographers'. Although a small number of those included were Geographers - Halford Mackinder, Dudley Stamp and Chauncy Harris - and a few others are generally accepted as such- Humboldt for example - the great majority had no connection whatsoever to the academic discipline. Most were explorers,cartographers or scientists whose work had a major influence on Geography ( such as Darwin and Kant) , but one looks in vain for other disciplinary luminaries- Isaiah Bowman and William Morris Davies, for example; Henry Clifford Darby and Sidney Wooldridge; Paul Vidal de la Blache and Torsten Hagerstrand".

Professor R.J. Johnnston, University of Bristol (2009)


To have someone from Resolfen quoted in the same paragraph as Charles Darwin, Kant and Humboldt (of the current fame), says it all.