Caernarfon’s Yes Cymru group was launched at the town’s Galeri theatre on Friday night.

Fifty members were present to hear speakers that included Sandra Clubb, one of the founders of Yes Cymru, and the author Dr Simon Brooks.

Yes Cymru Caernarfon joins the well-established Cardiff and Swansea groups, as well as 13 smaller groups across the country.

Sandy Clubb said that the groups were about training people who were ready to talk about independence with family, friends and work colleagues.

She argued that because of the strong community links within Wales, one-on-one conversations were the best way to build support for independence.

Simon Brooks from Porthmadog said that Britain was facing a crisis comparable to the collapse of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire early in the 20th century.

He said that there was now a four-year window following June 8 with no elections on the horizon, and that period was the ideal time to vigorously promote the case for Welsh independence.

‘Frustration’

Aled Gwyn Job, who was at the launch, said that the meeting was “fizzling with ideas, spontaneity, vision and enthusiasm”.

“One of the recurring themes during last night’s event was that devolution since 1999 has in effect neutered the Welsh national movement,” he said.

“It has served up a top-down, bland and managerial politics which has alienated and frustrated both nationalists and ordinary people alike.

“The risible tweet that people were encouraged to share recently – ‘I love devolution’ – only served to indicate that even our national party seems to be oblivious to this sad state of affairs.”

Transport Links

Another speaker, Dr Carl Clowes from Pentraeth, said that confidence was the key to the movement for Welsh independence.

He emphasized the different approaches an Independent Wales could take:

A West Coast railway mainline which could link up the north and south

An emphasis on renewable energy with Wales’s plentiful resources in water and wind

Community led social and economic development and a language restoration plan.

Marged Tudur, a student at Aberystwyth University then read her satirical poem Now is not the Time.

It referred to Theresa May’s line in response to the Scottish Government’s decision to stage a second Independence referendum.

Yes Cymru Caernarfon will hold their next meeting the week after the General Election on June 8.