Politician Owen John Thomas and founder of Clwb Ifor Bach has died

The former Assembly Member and founder of Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff Owen John Thomas has died at the age of 84. Mr Thomas was a Plaid Cymru politician who served as a Assembly Member (AM) for the South Wales Central region from 1999 to 2007.

The longstanding Cardiff-born politician served as Plaid Cymru's spokesman for culture, the Welsh language and sport during his time in the Assembly. He wrote a book on the Welsh language in Cardiff and helped found the music venue on Womanby Street known as Clwb Ifor Bach or, to generations of students, the Welsh club.

READ MORE: This is just embarrassing for Welsh democracy

READ MORE: Vaughan Gething's never-ending problem

Mr Thomas, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2013, leaves his wife Sian, six children, John, Hywel, Eurwen, Iestyn, Rhodri and Rhys, who is currently an independent Senedd Member for South Wales Central, and 11 grandchildren.

His son Hywel, who worked for him during his time in the Assembly, said: "He loved Wales, its people, language, and culture with a passion. He was driven by a desire to see Wales freed from the constraints of Westminster to determine its own affairs.

"All he ever wanted for his country was fairness and the powers to lift the people of Wales out of poverty and give them a fighting chance of a better future. Progress was slow, letter after letter, inch by inch but he kept going and never gave up.

"He knew the streets of his beloved Cardiff like the back of his hand and always had a story for every building - the hidden passages and alleyways connecting the Royal Arcade to the Tabernacle Chapel and the facades of the old houses of Kingston Court.

"My father never tired of walking through the streets and arcades of Cardiff city centre, stopping and chatting to people along the way – sometimes frustratingly so for me and my siblings. But the reward for our patience, was a visit to the Sarsaparilla Bar in Morgan’s Arcade. There, we would sit on the high barstools at the counter sipping our Sarsaparilla and Burdock feeling like grownups."

He said his father learned Welsh in his early 30s and devoted himself to helping it flourish, which is why he worked with friends to raise the funds to buy the building on Womanby Street in 1983 which became Clwb Ifor Bach.

He said: "The cruel Alzheimer’s disease would eventually take his voice, but he has left an indelible mark on his country, its capital city and the Welsh language. My father was a warrior. His spirit will live on in the streets and buildings of the city he knew so well and loved so much."

Former ASW employees and pensions campaigners Phil Jones and John Benson said Mr Thomas would always have the utmost respect of everyone involved in their campaign. He said: "He did so much for us regarding our pension miscarriage of pension justice, we at ASW will always be proud to have known a legend of a man who helped so many, a man and a politician who could always hold his head high."