Perched on a mountain overlooking the port of Holyhead, Pentre Pella is a small, irregularly shaped village with clusters of solid, squat cottages, stone walls, small fields and chapels. Sometimes the sky above is blue, but mostly it is grey. From here you can watch the ferries to and froing from Ireland. In fact there is probably not much else to do, unless you are an artist.
1968 was the year in which the Beatles sang ‘Hey Jude’ and the Rolling Stones ‘Jumping Jack Flash.’ It was the year Robert F Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assassinated; it was the year of the Prague Spring and student riots on the streets of Paris. Life was quiet in Pentre Pella though. Consequently the arrival of a tall, distinguished looking gentleman with a neatly trimmed moustache, a tweed jacket, a new Polish camera and an easel was their most exciting event.
The tall gentleman was of course no other than Kyffin Williams. He was inspired by Pentre Pella. He sketched energetically and later painted many oils simply titled ‘Pentre Pella.’ He also photographed extensively, perhaps in part to practise for his forthcoming Patagonian Odyssey.
William Troughton