FORMER Queen Mary’s College assistant principal Gareth Thomas is to return to Basingstoke to publicise his new novel.

A Welshman, Gareth moved to Basingstoke in 1970, starting work at Queen Mary’s College two years later.

He became closely associated with Central Studio at QMC, running it from its inception in 1978. He retired from the college, after many years’ service, in 2008.

His new novel, A Welsh Dawn, is set in the industrial north Wales of the 1950s. It explores the tensions within Welsh society in the 1950s: those between Welsh and English-speaking Wales; between north and south; between those who wanted to preserve their heritage and those who wanted prosperity at any cost; and between the generation who had experienced the war and the young people who saw Wales within a wider European context.

Gareth will appear at Central Studio on Wednesday, October 8 from 7pm to talk about the book.

He explained: “The novel has taken five years to write. The political narrative that acts as the spine of the work is as correct as I could make it in spirit and factual detail. Much of the dialogue is first hand although the contexts are changed. The intention throughout was to dramatise and reconstruct the political context faithfully.

“I am not a professional historian and in any case much of what I wanted to charter was social rather than political history.

“If I had anything to offer it was to explore the emotional intelligence that drove the passions and sparked the conflicts of the time. My own background in theatre made me wish to dramatise events.”

In Basingstoke, Gareth will be talking to the Welsh Language Society, which he formed.

All book lovers are also welcome to join him at the Studio’s bar, where he’ll read sections of the novel. Former QMC principal Stephen Sheedy will chair a question and answer section. Copies of the book will be on sale and there is no charge for admission.

Gareth concluded: “The title comes from a famous Welsh poem by Ceiriog, who is sometimes titled the ‘Welsh Wordsworth’ for his success in restoring directness and simplicity to Welsh nineteenth century verse.

“The poem tells of how “with the dawn”, the old songs of Wales can still be heard but must be sung by the voice of a new generation.”