The Cynon Valley Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Flag
Detail of the Flag
This banner was made by the Cynon Valley Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (C.N.D) group. It reads ‘Cynon Valley’ above the modern peace symbol.
The World changed forever on August 6th, 1945, when the American B-29 Superfortress bomber ‘Enola Gay’ dropped ‘Little Boy’, the first nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, Over 340,000 people would die because of ‘Little Boy’ and ‘Fat Man’ the bomb dropped three days later on Nagasaki.
Then Britian’s reaction was to announce in 1948 that it would develop its own nuclear weapon, and by 1952 its first bomb was tested.
As counter to nuclear proliferation, C.N.D was launched in 1958, with the goal of achieving a nuclear weapons free world. With the ‘Cold War ‘heating up in the early 1980s The Cynon Valley C.N.D group was formed in 1981, remained active until the fall of the ‘Iron Curtain’ in 1989.
This banner, was made by two 16-year-old girls who belonged to the group, using the ‘Batik’ textile dyeing technique, whereby hot wax is applied in the desired design and the fabric is dyed.
Later additions to the banner include two anti-war stickers which read ‘smoking guns can seriously damage the health of nations’.
The banner carried using the wooden poles was taken to strikes, marches, and protests in Wales and beyond, including the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp (1981), Berkshire, established to protest nuclear weapons from USA being placed at RAF Greenham Common. Many Welsh women attended to protest, some chaining themselves to the gates and perimeter fence of the airbase.
On one occasion the banner was taken to a demonstration in London, where the group were told they couldn’t take it through because of its size. Some miners helped by snapping the wooden poles so the banner could be put in a bag and used at the demo.
By 1982, all Welsh County Councils declared themselves to be Nuclear Free Zones. More recently in 2021, the United Nations enforced the treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons, with the ultimate goal of their total elimination.
This banner is currently on display at St. Elvans Church, for the month of September as they host the ‘Festival of Peace’ exhibition and event (Saturday 13th September).
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Cafodd y faner yma ei chreu gan grŵp Ymgyrch Dros Ddiarfogi Niwclear yng Nghymru (CND) – Cwm Cynon. Mae’n nodi ‘Cwm Cynon’ uwchben y symbol heddwch modern.
Newidiodd y Byd am byth ar 6 Awst, 1945, pan ollyngodd y bomiwr Americanaidd B-29 Superfortress ‘Enola Gay’ y bom niwclear cyntaf ‘Little Boy’ ar ddinas Hiroshima yn Japan. Bu farw dros 340,000 o bobl o ganlyniad i ollyngiad y bomiau ‘Little Boy’ a ‘Fat Man’, sef y bom a gafodd ei ollwng dridiau’n ddiweddarach ar Nagasaki.
Yna, ym 1948 ymatebodd Prydain drwy gyhoeddi y byddai’n datblygu ei harf niwclear ei hun, ac erbyn 1952 profwyd ei bom cyntaf.
Er mwyn gwneud safiad yn erbyn ymledu arfau niwclear, cafodd CND ei lansio ym 1958, gyda’r nod o greu byd heb arfau niwclear. Gyda’r Rhyfel Oer yn dechrau yn yr 1980au cynnar, ffurfiwyd grŵp CND Cwm Cynon ym 1981, a pharhaodd i fod yn weithgar tan gwymp yr ‘Iron Curtain’ ym 1989.
Cafodd y faner yma ei chreu gan ddwy ferch 16 oed a oedd yn perthyn i’r grŵp, gan ddefnyddio techneg lliwio tecstilau ‘Batik’, lle mae cwyr poeth yn cael ei roi yn y dyluniad dymunol ac mae’r ffabrig yn cael ei liwio.
Mae ychwanegiadau diweddarach at y faner yn cynnwys dwy sticer gwrthryfel sy’n darllen ‘smoking guns can seriously damage the health of nations’.
Cafodd y faner ei chario ar byst pren mewn streiciau, gorymdeithiau a phrotestiadau yng Nghymru a thu hwnt, gan gynnwys yng Ngwersyll Heddwch Menywod Greenham Common (1981), Berkshire, a gafodd ei drefnu i brotestio yn erbyn gosod arfau niwclear yr UDA ar Greenham Common, sef safle’r Awyrlu Brenhinol (RAF). Aeth llawer o fenywod o Gymru i brotestio, gyda rhai ohonyn nhw’n clymu eu hunain wrth gatiau a ffens berimedr y maes awyr.
Ar un achlysur, aethon nhw â’r faner i wrthdystiad yn Llundain, lle dywedwyd wrth aelodau’r grŵp na allan nhw ei chymryd drwodd oherwydd ei maint. Gwnaeth glowyr eu helpu trwy dorri’r pyst pren er mwyn i’r faner gael ei rhoi mewn bag i’w defnyddio yn yr wrthdystiad.
Erbyn 1982, gwnaeth pob Cyngor Sirol yng Nghymru ddatgan eu bod nhw’n Barthau Di-Niwclear. Yn fwy diweddar yn 2021, gwnaeth y Cenhedloedd Unedig orfodi’r cytundeb ar gyfer Gwahardd Arfau Niwclear, y cytundeb rhyngwladol cyntaf sy’n rhwymo’n gyfreithiol i wahardd arfau niwclear yn gyfan gwbl, gyda’r nod yn y pen draw o’u dileu nhw’n llwyr.
Mae’r faner yma nawr i’w gweld yn Eglwys Sant Elfan yn ystod mis Medi, yn rhan o arddangosfa ac achlysur ‘Gŵyl Heddwch’ (Dydd Sadwrn 13 Medi).
