Ruth Bidgood (née Jones; 20 July 1922 – 4 March 2022) was a Welsh poet and local historian who wrote in English.
Ruth Jones was born at Blaendulais, Seven Sisters, [1] near Neath, Wales, on 20 July 1922. Her mother, the former Hilda Garrett, was a teacher. [2] Bidgood's Welsh-speaking father, Rev William Herbert Jones, became vicar of St Mary's Church, Aberavon, [3] where Ruth was brought up. She was educated at a grammar school in Port Talbot, and went on to read English at St Hugh's College, Oxford. [3] During World War II, she served in the Wrens as a coder, at Alexandria in Egypt. [4]
After the war, Bidgood worked in London helping to prepare a new edition of Chambers's Encyclopaedia, [5] but eventually she and her husband, David Bidgood, whom she had married in 1946, [2] moved to Coulsdon in Surrey. [3] She and her husband had two sons and one daughter, Janet (died 2007). [2]
Bidgood and her husband bought a holiday bungalow at Abergwesyn, near Llanwrtyd Wells in Powys. [5] During the 1960s, she became concerned about the construction of reservoirs and introduction of forestries in mid Wales, which she felt adversely affected the life of the region; this influenced her 1970 collection, The Zombie-Makers. [6] In the 1970s, after her husband had left her, [2] she made her home permanently at the bungalow, and began publishing poetry and researches into local history.
Bidgood died at Bryn Gwy residential home in Rhayader, on 4 March 2022, at the age of 99. [7] [8]
In April 2011 her collection, Time Being, was awarded the Roland Mathias Prize. [9]
A book-length study of Bidgood's work, written by Matthew Jarvis, was published in 2012 by the University of Wales Press in the "Writers of Wales" series. [10] The book was launched together with Bidgood's Above the Forests collection at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on 27 July 2012.
Ruth Bidgood (née Jones; 20 July 1922 – 4 March 2022) was a Welsh poet and local historian who wrote in English.
Ruth Jones was born at Blaendulais, Seven Sisters, [1] near Neath, Wales, on 20 July 1922. Her mother, the former Hilda Garrett, was a teacher. [2] Bidgood's Welsh-speaking father, Rev William Herbert Jones, became vicar of St Mary's Church, Aberavon, [3] where Ruth was brought up. She was educated at a grammar school in Port Talbot, and went on to read English at St Hugh's College, Oxford. [3] During World War II, she served in the Wrens as a coder, at Alexandria in Egypt. [4]
After the war, Bidgood worked in London helping to prepare a new edition of Chambers's Encyclopaedia, [5] but eventually she and her husband, David Bidgood, whom she had married in 1946, [2] moved to Coulsdon in Surrey. [3] She and her husband had two sons and one daughter, Janet (died 2007). [2]
Bidgood and her husband bought a holiday bungalow at Abergwesyn, near Llanwrtyd Wells in Powys. [5] During the 1960s, she became concerned about the construction of reservoirs and introduction of forestries in mid Wales, which she felt adversely affected the life of the region; this influenced her 1970 collection, The Zombie-Makers. [6] In the 1970s, after her husband had left her, [2] she made her home permanently at the bungalow, and began publishing poetry and researches into local history.
Bidgood died at Bryn Gwy residential home in Rhayader, on 4 March 2022, at the age of 99. [7] [8]
In April 2011 her collection, Time Being, was awarded the Roland Mathias Prize. [9]
A book-length study of Bidgood's work, written by Matthew Jarvis, was published in 2012 by the University of Wales Press in the "Writers of Wales" series. [10] The book was launched together with Bidgood's Above the Forests collection at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on 27 July 2012.