Skip to content

Final farewell to Grand Slam star Dewi 'Pws' Morris

BBC Dewi Pws Morris wearing his trademark skull-cap hat and badge, with a Welsh flag neck scarf, wearing a green fleece.BBC
Actor, musician and presenter, Dewi 'Pws' Morris died in August, aged 76

Family, friends and fans have paid a final farewell to the Welsh actor and musician Dewi "Pws" Morris.

Best known for his leading role in the 1978 rugby comedy film Grand Slam, Morris died in August, aged 76.

Members of the public lined the street in the seaside town of Nefyn, Gwynedd, where he lived, before his funeral cortege made its way to Bangor.

Over 300 mourners gathered for a service celebrating his life, with his casket draped in the Welsh flag, along with a floral banjo and a hat Morris was never seen without in public.

Dewi Morris funeral casket, with his trademark hat and a floral banjo sitting on a Welsh flag on the wicker coffin
Morris' trademark hat and a floral display in the shape of banjo were placed on his flag-draped casket

In a service of celebration, led by Welsh poet Myrddin ap Dafydd, many of the mourners wore red-and-white neckerchiefs, to mark Morris' longstanding role in the rock band Edward H Dafis.

Regarded as the very first Welsh language rock supergroup, Morris was a founding member.

The band's lead singer Cleif Harpwood was among many Welsh artists to pay their own tributes to Morris, performing during the service.

Mourners at the funeral of Dewi Morris, many wearing red-and-white neckerchiefs
Mourners were encouraged to wear red-and-white Edward H Dafis neckerchiefs

Born in Treboeth, near Swansea, Dewi Gray Morris took on the name Dewi Pws to distinguish himself from other Dewis in his class.

He was a teacher before turning to acting and singing, playing Wayne Harries from the long-running soap Pobol y Cwm's debut in 1974 until 1987.

His musical talent came to the fore as the lead vocalist in groundbreaking Welsh language band Tebot Piws, before being a founding member of Edward H Dafis.

Image from the film Grand Slam, Dewi Pwys Morris second right in the shot in the role of Glyn Lloyd-Evans - dressed in a black long leather coat, scarf and black flat hat, sporting a large moustache. Standing next to him is the actor Windsor Davies, who played the character Mog Jones. Other cast members are present, speaking to a French police officer

But it was his part as Oscar-winner Huw Griffith’s womanising son Glyn Lloyd-Evans in 1978 BBC Wales comedy Grand Slam that became his best known role - a role he once described as "frightening, and awesome".

An accomplished and award winning TV presenter, he was the Children's Poet Laureate for Wales in 2010, and a former winner of the annual song-writing competion Cân i Gymru.