01/11/2025
DENNIS ROBERTS
1940 - 2025
It is with great sadness that we report that Dennis Roberts, founder of Penmaenmawr Historical Society and Museum, and our dear friend, passed away yesterday.
One of the best words we can use to describe Dennis is inspirational. His passion for history was compelling and throughout his career as an educator he made it his mission to make history engaging for everyone. Not a week goes by in the museum when we don’t get a visit from one of Dennis’s former pupils who remember him fondly from their time in Ysgol Pencae – how he would lead their class around the town to point out interesting features, or traipse them up the mountain to get their imaginations racing about how people lived there long ago. He would hide objects for pupils to find, making them believe they had made a big archaeological discovery, and he’d spend hours using his vast local knowledge to write exciting stories and lessons that animated the past and enthused them to learn more.
One of the people who inspired Dennis was the local historian Ivor Davies. Ivor was born in the late 1800s and in Dennis he found someone who had as much of an appetite for recording and preserving heritage as he did. Ivor and Dennis established Penmaenmawr Historical Society in 1973. They gave lectures, held re-enactments, designed pop-up exhibitions, wrote booklets and hosted guided walks, generously sharing their research and knowledge. After Ivor’s death in 1985, Dennis continued to collect objects, documents and photographs relating to Penmaenmawr’s history. He was so determined in this quest, he would even jump into skips outside the quarry and council offices to retrieve discarded ledgers and maps! He saved hundreds of items that give a precious insight into Penmaenmawr’s history – information that would have been lost forever if it wasn’t for his efforts.
Dennis was the driving force behind establishing a museum in Penmaenmawr. His dream came true in 2006 when the original museum was opened in New York Cottages. But his ambitions were bigger than the space available – he wanted to do more work with schools, more heritage activities with children, and share Penmaenmawr’s fascinating history with more people. To achieve this, a bigger space was needed, and after eleven years of operating part-time from that small cottage on the outskirts of town, the museum moved to the old post office in the centre of Penmaenmawr.
We all remember the day we first looked at what was to become the new museum building. Dennis’ excitement was palpable, and infectious! He was striding from room-to-room, with all of us trying to keep up, and shooting out ideas for how the spaces could be used to tell Penmaenmawr’s stories.
That was just eight years ago. Dennis himself would say that the museum has become more than even he, with all his creativity and positivity, could imagine. He loved being there - answering people’s questions, meeting old friends and pupils, examining new objects and photographs, and researching and writing prolifically! As he became less mobile, he would often sit in the coffee shop watching the bustle of volunteers and visitors. Every week, he would say to our project manager, “look at all this, kid, it’s wonderful isn’t it, just wonderful. I love it, you know.”
It is, indeed, wonderful. There are not many places the size of Penmaenmawr that can boast a museum. The gallery, the coffee shop, the shop, the exhibitions, the free activities for children, the lectures, the walks, the accredited archive, the education resources for schools, and the preservation and recording of so much of Penmaenmawr’s history, are thanks to Dennis.
Of course, he had help along the way. He was always the first to acknowledge the shoulders he stood on and the many volunteers and friends who supported him over the years. What Dennis may not have realised is that he received that help because he was so well respected as a historian, and because he was a joy to work with and be around.
We cannot begin to express how much Dennis will be missed by all of us at the museum. He’s left us, and the community, with a legacy we know he was proud of. It’s our job now, as custodians, to nurture that legacy. We will endeavour to do that with as much passion and enthusiasm for local history as Dennis showed throughout his life.
To reflect the words of Huw Tom – Dennis, it was our privilege.
