My friend, Lloyd Jones, who has has died aged 74, wrote novels, short stories and poems in Welsh and English.
His first novel, Mr Vogel (2004), won the 2005 McKitterick prize and his second, Mr Cassini, was Wales Book of the Year in 2007. Both were fantastical considerations of childhood, mixed up with dream sequences and set in Wales and on the Welsh borders.
Lloyd was born in Colwyn Bay, north Wales, and brought up on a hill farm in Gwytherin, a village on the edge of the Hiraethog moor. His father, George, ran the farm, while his mother, Mary (nee Davies), had worked in domestic service.
His childhood was disrupted by a year spent in hospital with Perthes’ disease and then his parents’ divorce, after which he remained with his alcoholic father to help on the farm. Only the intervention of his aunts ensured that he eventually caught up on his education, as a boarder at Ellesmere college in Shropshire.
After a spell working on a farm, he became a trainee reporter on the North Wales Pioneer in Colwyn Bay in 1972, although he soon left that position to take a degree in Welsh and English at Bangor University. While there he took part in an experiment in which students lived together with adults with learning difficulties in a large house in Llanfairfechan, where he met Evelyn Stevens, a fellow student who became his partner for a number of years.
After university Lloyd worked as a nursing assistant at Bryn-y-Neuadd hospital in Llanfairfechan (1978-79) before returning to journalism on a number of titles, including the Bangor and Anglesey Mail – where he worked his way up to the editorship – and then the Wrexham Mail, of which he was also editor.
During that time he developed an increasing dependence on alcohol, which eventually led him to lose his job and home in 2000, followed by a period of rough sleeping. While homeless he embarked on a 1,000-mile walk around Wales that became the inspiration for Mr Vogel and helped put him back on the path to sobriety.
Alcoholism had nearly killed him, and his narrow escape from its consequences instilled in Lloyd an appreciation of the many joys of his life. Afterwards he embraced a simple and frugal existence, concentrating on his walking and writing, and did not go back to formal work, apart from a temporary post as a researcher for the BBC in Bangor.
Each of Lloyd’s first three books was written in English – the third, My First Colouring Book (2008), was a collection of short stories. His first novel in Welsh was Y Dwr (2009), and more followed in both languages, as well as poetry. An accomplished photographer, he also mounted exhibitions of his work in Machynlleth and Bangor.
Aside from writing and photography, Lloyd’s other great love was the art of moidering, the habit of stopping to chat with anyone he encountered on whatever subject came up.
He is survived by his two children, Ed and Ella, from his relationship with Evelyn, three grandchildren, Dusty, Lowen and Willow, and two siblings, Eurwen and Dafydd.
