Blue plaque honour for Welsh Oscar star Milland

RAY Milland, the first Welsh actor to win an Oscar, is to be commemorated with a blue plaque in his home town of Neath next year to mark 80 years since he received one of Hollywood's most coveted prizes.

- JAMES ARNOTT

Also next year, two other blue plaques will commemorate the lives of engineering innovator David Thomas, known as "the father of the American iron industry", and Dafydd Helsin Rowlands, the celebrated National Eisteddfod of Wales Archdruid.

Both plaques will be in the Swansea Valley, where they were from.

The plaques for Ray Milland and Dafydd Helsin Rowlands will be the inaugural commemorative blue plaques funded by Neath Port Talbot council, while the plaque for David Thomas will be funded by Cilybebyll Community Council.

The council's blue plaque scheme was initially approved in 2024 to celebrate notable people, places and events across the county borough and is one of the key priorities of the council's Heritage Strategy for 2024-39.

For the next 10 years, two plaques per year will be funded by the council alongside options for businesses, groups or individuals to self-fund a blue plaque.