The National Health Service was created on July 5th 1948, an embodiment of the ideal that quality healthcare should be available to all, regardless of wealth or social status.

On the day that Aneurin Bevan, as Health Secretary, opened Park Hospital in Manchester it was the fulfilment of an enormously inspirational dream  to bring good healthcare to every Individual in the UK. For the first time in British history, the provision of doctors, nurses dentists, pharmacists, opticians and hospitals was brought under the auspices of a single organisation that was ' free for all at the point of delivery.'

The underlying philosophy was clear: the health service was intended to be freely available to everyone. It was to be financed in its entirety  from public taxation, which meant that everyone contributed to it directly from their salary and according to their means.  It was Aneurin Bevan's most famous achievement as Minister of Health , it was he who initiated it's establishment and he tendered his resignation when a subsequent government proposed to charge patients for eyeglasses and dentures. 

Today is the feast day of Saint Cenydd

Born in 525, Saint Cenydd  was a prince of Breton origin, born allegedly from an incestuous union,  at Lougher on the Gower Peninsula near the modern city of Swansea.

He was born with a physical disability, and as was customary at the time, was cast into the river on the orders of his father, Deroch. According to legend, he was baptised by a local priest before being placed in a willow basket and set adrift in the River Lliw, a stream which joins Afon Llwchwr ( Lougher River) before reaching the open sea. The story is that a sudden storm swept the makeshift cradle towards the Worm's Head promontory, Ynys Weryn, where the waves carried it onto a beach, where a flock of seagulls miraculously carried the child to a place of safety where they used their breast feathers to make a warm nest for him. The seagulls used their wings to protect the baby from the harsh elements until he was eventually discovered and adopted by a childless fisherman and his wife.

In adult life Cenydd chose to be a hermit, with only a dishonest servant as his companion whose unreliability was evident when he stole a spear from one of a party of brigands who had been offered hospitality by Cenydd. The servant escaped to the rocky outcrops around St Davids, where he lived like an animal, completely covered in bodily hair. For seven years Cenydd  prayed for his servant's well-being, and the man eventually returned in penitent humility to his master. It is claimed that in 545 Saint David cured Cenydd of his disability while on a journey to the Synod of Brefi but Cenydd chose to remain as God had intended him and begged David to restore his disability.

Cenydd's feast day is celebrated on 5th July (colloquially referred to as his 'Mapsant day', from the Welsh words 'sant' - holy, and 'mab' - son) The day was traditionally noted by displaying an effigy of a bird from a pole on the church tower. This was intended to represent the seagulls from the legend who rescued the infant Cenydd from the waves. A dish similar to bread and butter pudding called 'whitepot', made from dried fruit, milk, sugar and flour was also consumed  to mark the occasion.

Born this day 1755 in  the "Shoulder of Mutton" public-house (now called the Sarah Siddons), Brecon.

Sarah Siddons - best-known tragic actress of the 18th century.

Sarah was the eldest of 12 siblings born to Roger and Sarah Kemble, a couple who were actor-managers to a popular company of traveling players. She received a surprisingly broad education as a result of her mother's insistence on her attending school in the towns visited by the company.  In her teens, she fell in love with and married, despite the initial disapproval of her parents, William Siddons, who was an actor in her father's troupe.  

By 1774 she was assuming leading acting roles, and in 1777, she joined the company on a provincial acting tour. her reputation as an accomplished actress grew over the next six years, especially in the provincial capitals such as York and Bath. When she made her first appearance on the London stage at Drury Lane in 1782 she was hailed as a 'sensation'. This sparkling debut was the beginning of a twenty year career in which she was recognised as the 'queen of Drury Lane'. Her status as a contemporary celebrity has been called both"mythical" and "monumental," and by 1785, Sarah Siddons reputation was considered iconic.

She was most renowned for her presentation of Lady Macbeth,  a role which ideally suited her range of talent. She was, apparently, a tall and very striking beauty, with extraordinarily expressive eyes and a dignified demeanour, which enhanced and enriched her portrayal of tragic female characters, particularly Lady Macbeth.

Many anecdotes testify to the power she had over her audiences. Once, while playing Aphasia in Tamburlaine, in the scene where she sees her lover strangled in front of her, her cries of agony as she fell lifeless on  the stage were so convincing that the audience believed she was actually  dead, and it took the intervention  of the theatre manager to persuade them that her collapse was make-believe!  During another performance, a member of the audience became so involved with the acting that he experienced breathing difficulties and went into paroxysms.

In 1802 she left Drury Lane and made occasional appearances at Covent Garden, where on 29 June 1812, that she gave her final public performance, aptly in her famous role of Lady Macbeth. At the end of the 'sleepwalking' scene, the applause from the audience was so intense and prolonged that the play could not continue. When the curtain eventually reopened it was to Sarah Siddons in her own clothes, no longer in the costume of her stage character. She delivered a highly emotional speech of farewell which lasted for eight minutes before the curtain closed on her for the final time.

Born this day 1934 in Merthyr Tydfil.

Philip Madoc - Actor.

Perhaps his most famous role was as the title character in the BBC Wales drama "The Life and Times of David Lloyd George". However, he had already achieved public acclaim in two television serials, firstly in 1969 as SS Officer Lutzig in the popular WW2 serial "Manhunt", and again in 1971 taking the role of the brutal Huron warrior Magua in a televised series of "The Last of the Mohicans". His acting style in both roles featured an understated, restrained sense of menace which was much more effective  than obvious aggression.

He revisited the character of Lutzig later in his career in an episode of the popular television comedy series Dad's Army, "The Deadly Attachment", where Madoc played a U-boat Captain held prisoner by the  Home Guard's Walmington-on-Sea platoon. His performance, alongside seasoned and experienced comedy actors, was considered masterly.

On 5th July 1952, six miners were killed in a mining accident at Point of Ayr colliery in Flintshire. 
 
Point of Ayr ( Y Parlwr Du) is the northernmost point of mainland Wales, ands sits on the estuary of the river Dee. There had been a colliery at Point of Ayr for many years, situated at the northern edge of the Flintshire Coalfield, and it was to become  one of the last deep mines operating in Wales.

The initial exploratory mining took place in 1865, under the direction of Lord Mostyn, owner of the Mostyn Colliery which was several miles away. The results were promising and the Prestatyn Coal Company was consequently established to find a viable seam Unfortunately the project was abandoned before a rich enough seam was found. Less than ten years later, further investigative borings  by a different company, the Western Mostyn Colliery again proved unviable, and it was not until 1890 that a third company, the Point of Ayr Colliery Company struck a viable seam.

Coal  was brought to the surface by a team of pit ponies at this time, and soon a second shaft was sunk. By 1896, 356 men were employed here, producing coal for both industrial and domestic purposes.  According to the Inspector of Mines records, in 1896 the pit employed 356 men producing coal for domestic and industrial uses. After the nationalisation of the coal industry in 1947, the mine was operated  by the National Coal Board, which sunk a third shaft which meant that the underground workings extended into the Irish Sea. By 1953, 738 men were employed here, producing 213,000 tons of coal each year. Point of Ayr colliery eventually closed on 23 August 1996