Bro Dysynni: Ddoe a Heddiw/Dysynni Area: Yesterday and Today
Gan/by Ros Dodd
"Y mae i bob ardal ei henwogion, ei chymwynaswyr, ei chymeriadau," ysgrifennodd R Emyr Jones yn y cyflwyniad i lyfr o bron i 70 ffotograffau du-a-gwyn, Bro Dysynni: Ddoe a Heddiw, a gyhoeddwyd ganddo rywbryd tua dechrau'r 1990au. "Ymdrech yw'r gyfrol yma i roi cipolwg ar Fro Dysynni drwy lens y camera, a thrwy hynny sicrhau bod rhai agweddau ar fywyd beunyddiol trigolion y dyffryn nodedig hwn...yn cael eu cadw yn y cof ac yn cael eu gwarchod. Mae hefyd yn ymdrech i gyflwyno rhai cymeriadau lliwgar sydd wedi gwneud eu marc wrth fyw yn ein plith." Roedd y llyfr - yn cynnwys ffotograffau a roddwyd gan bobl leol - yn llwyddiant mawr; cymaint felly iddo werthu allan a bu'n rhaid ei ailargraffu. Cyhoeddodd Emyr ddwy gyfrol arall wedi hynny, yn 1996 a 1997. Bu farw yn 1999.
Mae'r ffotograffau a'r testun isod o dair cyfrol llyfrau Emyr ac wedi'u hatgynhyrchu gyda chaniatâd caredig ei ferch, Shan.
Diolch yn fawr i Alun Evans (Fferm Caerffynnon) am fenthyg ei gopïau o'r llyfrau i mi ac i Lowri Jones am fy helpu gyda'r cyfieithiadau Cymraeg-Saesneg-Cymraeg!
"Every area has its famous people, its benefactors, its characters," wrote R Emyr Jones in the introduction to a book of nearly 70 black-and-white photographs," Dysynni Area: Yesterday and Today, that he published sometime around the early 1990s. "This volume is an effort to give a glimpse of the Dysynni Valley through the lens of the camera and thereby ensure that some aspects of the daily lives of the residents of this notable valley...are kept in the memory and preserved. It is also an effort to introduce some colourful characters who have made their mark while living among us." The book - featuring photographs donated by local people - was a big hit; so much so that it sold out and had to be reprinted. Emyr subsequently published two further volumes, in 1996 and 1997. He died in 1999.
The photographs and text below are from all three volumes of Emyr's books and have been reproduced with the kind permission of his daughter, Shan.
Many thanks to Alun Evans (Caerffynnon Farm) for lending me his copies of the books and to Lowri Jones for helping me with the Welsh-English-Welsh translations!
