Preece Family Tree

Presented to Tom John, Esq.

Presented to Tom John Esq Vice-President of the National Union of Teachers, June 23rd 1904.

Dear Comrade,

We the Old Boys of Ysgol Comin, Aberdare, heartily congratulate you upon your Election last Easter, at Portsmouth, to the proud position of Vice-President of the National Union of Teachers.

You are the first Welshman upon whom this distinction has been conferred; and your fellow teachers in England and Wales have, in an unmistakeable manner, recognised your merit by giving you the unprecedented majority of 10,721.

We felt extremely pleased when we heard of your Election as a Member of the Executive of the N.U.T. at Portsmouth seventeen years ago; and this feeling was renewed, year by year, when we heard of your success at each subsequent annual Election.

We recognise your courage, persistency, and devotion to duty, and also the appreciation of your profession.

The high and responsible position to which you have been elected, has been occupied by very eminent men; but we feel certain that the Old Boy of Ysgol Comin will add new lustre to the chair, which he will occupy at Llandudno next Easter.

In addition to your many offices in connection with the N.U.T. as Chairman of Committees &c &c, your public work has been varied and useful. Literature, Music, the Eisteddfod and Local Industries have found in you a staunch supporter; withal you found opportunity to attend to Social and Religious work at home, and we are gratified to know that this has not been unappreciated by your immediate neighbours in the Rhondda Valley.

Education - Primary, Secondary, and University - has however, received the lion's share of your attention; and the valuable character of your foresight and advice, has been acknowledged by the National Union of Teachers, The Welsh Central Board, and the Welsh University Court, of which you have been a faithful member for many years.

In conjunction with Sir Isambard Owen, Sir John Williams, Mr Marchant Williams, Archdeacon Griffiths, and others, you some years ago, prevailed upon Mr Acland, Vice-President of the Council, to recognise the teaching of the Welsh Language in the Primary Day Schools of Wales; and the Principality, as a whole, to-day re-echoes the cheer of your old comrades in congratulating you on your election to the highest position of influence, which the vote of 50,000 of the teachers of England and Wales can give.

We feel proud of the fact that we attended the same School in our boyhood, and we are delighted to know that the enthusiasm which you displayed then, not only in Scholastic matters, but also in Cricket and other games, has been devoted in mature years to the best interests of those around you; and that the magnetic influence of your personality has so often inspired others to labour in the same self-sacrificing spirit as the late lamented Dan Isaac Davies and yourself.

We ask you to accept this Address as a mark of the regard in which you are held by your old School fellows; who pray that you may long be spared to serve the cause of Education; and that those blessings which tend to make the path of life a joyous one, be bestowed, in rich measure, upon you, and upon your beloved wife and family.

Signed

Jno Rees, President
Isamabard Williams, Vice-President
Daniel Hughes, Chairman of Committee
John Giles, Vice-Chairman
Rees Williams, Treasurer
John Griffiths, Jno Evans, Secretaries

Photographs of:

Tom John (uncaptioned)
Ysgol Comin, Aberdare - 1904, 1850 and 1866
Aberdare
Llwynypia Mixed School
Llwynypia Infants School
Llwynypia

C. Kerishole, Esq., Solicitor, Aberdare
John Rees, Esq., H.M.I. of Schools
Dan Isaac Davies
Alderman Goldsworthy, Newport, Mon
John Giles, Esq., Aberdare
David Hughes, Esq., High Constable, Aberdare

Park School Reunion, 1904

J. Richards, Esq., Swansea
Sir J. Marchant Williams
John Griffiths, Esq., Hd Master, Park Schools, Aberdare
Gomer Jones, Esq. B.A., H.M.I. of Schools
W. D. Lewis, Esq., formerly Hd Master at "Ysgol Comin"
Councillor D. Evans, Whitland