Rhiannon Jenkins (1946 -2022)
Rhiannon was born and raised in Mold. After going to university in Bangor studying music under the leadership of William Mathias, and short periods living in Cefn Meiriadog and Rhydymwyn, she returned to live in Mold.
Dawnswyr Delyn was founded in 1987 by Geoff Jenkins and by his side our accompanist was his wife Rhiannon. It’s always amazing to me to see how patient our accompanists are, especially in rehearsals, going over the same pieces over and over again. Rhiannon was no exception in that regard. She mainly accompanied on the accordion and sometimes piano for Dawnswyr Delyn as well as groups and individuals at school. As head of music at Ysgol Maes Garmon Eisteddfodau were always busy times and Rhiannon enjoyed being in the middle of things, though possibly like many, not so happy with early preliminaries. She always had a banana in her bag to give more energy.
She accompanied many individuals and had considerable success, among them her own daughters Meinir and Tanwen, also Alaw Lewis, Angharad and Bethan James.
We had a lot of fun dancing locally, taking part in festivals or travelling abroad. Gŵyl Ifan was a favourite and after circumstances stopped her from attending she was always keen to catch up with all the news.
A few unusual opportunities- who can forget dancing Llanofer in clogs down a cobble street in Nantes (don’t ask!) followed the baghad and Rhiannon in the front. I remember Maes Garmon cloggers processing down the aisle of St Mary’s in Mold and Rhiannon leading them on the accordion – a wonderful sound on the tiled floor. A few other surreal performances come to mind like dancing on the prom in Rhyl and people passing in their bikinis staring in surprise at the people dancing in wool.
Following Geoff’s death in 2004 Rhiannon returned to accompany for a time. She also had a great opportunity to travel to South Korea with the Nantgarw Dancers where Meinir danced – an experience she really enjoyed.
Following a car accident in recent years and nerve damage in her arm Rhiannon lost strength in her left hand which meant she was unable to play the piano or accordion. She was very frustrated about this but her interest in the Eisteddfodau and dancing continued and she loved catching up with people’s news.
Our members remember her fondly.