File NLW MS 24152B. - Diary

Diary of Raymond Garlick, Blaenau Ffestiniog, for 1957, with two days to a page, containing entries for 27 December 1956-31 December 1957 (pp. 4-215), mostly concerning personal and family matters, his writing and broadcasting, teaching at Ffestiniog County School and his activities in the Catholic Church.
There are references throughout to Garlick's literary and other friends, most notably John Cowper Powys and his wife Phyllis Playter, including preparations for a radio broadcast on Powys in which Garlick participated (pp. 4-150 passim, 183, 186-187). Among the school pupils mentioned are Grey Evans (the actor), who, with his father, accompanied Garlick on an Easter trip to Rome (pp. 8, 44, 46, 67-72, 152), and former pupil Bruce [Griffiths] (p. 11). Incidents recounted include a row with the artist Frederick Konekamp (p. 45), and Dyfnallt Morgan winning the crown at the National Eisteddfod, with Aneirin Talfan [Davies]'s comments on the Gorsedd (p. 131). The family briefly took in as a lodger Susan Russell, Viscountess Amberley, the daughter of the poet Vachel Lindsay and estranged wife of Bertrand Russell's son (pp. 183-199 passim). The volume contains fair copies of parts of three poems, comprising the first verse of 'Monsignor Tudor' (p. 95), four verses of 'Therapy' (p. 101) and a prayer, 'Heart of Jesus, in you I place…' (p. 144); 'Monsignor Tudor' was collected in A Sense of Europe: Collected Poems 1954-1968 (Llandysul, 1968), p. 85. The volume also contains various cuttings, memoranda and accounts (pp. 1, 3, 125, 220-237 and inside back cover).