If you’ve walked through the Italian Gardens in Pontypool, you may have seen this impressive wooden sculpture.  

In July 2023, the Myfanwy Haycock Poetry Trail in Pontypool Park was launched, and a wooden sculpture of this talented poet was unveiled in the Italian Gardens.  

At the launch, Broadcaster and Pontypool-born Jenni Crane said: “Today is a dream come true, being here to celebrate the life of a Pontypool poet Myfanwy in what is her 110th anniversary year.

"Bringing her poetry alive is very special, it means that Myfanwy finds a new audience in you and in Myfanwy, you find a poet who loved Pontypool.” 

Cllr Gaynor James and the wooden sculptureCllr Gaynor James and the wooden sculpture (Image: Supplied)

Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Gwent Jack Hanbury-Tennison and Cllr Gaynor James cut the ribbon on the new information/map board and unveiled the magnificent Myfanwy sculpture.

In 1913, Myfanwy Haycock was born at Mount Pleasant Hospital in Pontnewynydd, the youngest of three daughters.  

A local builder Mason James Haycock (known locally as Jimmy Pearce after his step-family) and Alice Haycock (neé Perr) were her parents.  

What is Myfanwy Haycock famous for?

From an early age, all her siblings were encouraged in their arts by their father and regularly won prizes in school and chapel Eisteddfodau. 

Myfanwy went to Cwmffrwdoer Infants & Primary school, The County Grammar School for Girls, Pontypool and Cardiff Technical College – at college she became editor of a magazine. 

Myfanwy Haycock (second from right with a bow in her hair) at Cwmffrwdoer School in 1922Myfanwy Haycock (second from right with a bow in her hair) at Cwmffrwdoer School in 1922 (Image: Torfaen Museum)The talented poet and author won several Eisteddfodau chairs including, in 1933, both the Ebbw Vale Eisteddfod and Port Talbot Eisteddfod.  

From 1936 her poems and stories, often illustrated by Myfanwy with drawings, appeared regularly in the Free Press of Monmouthshire and The Western Mail as well as various local and National newspapers and journals. 

In 1943, she moved to London to work for the BBC and became a member of Women Writers and Journalists.  

In 1947, she married Dr Arthur Williams who she had three children with while living in Surrey.