Erastus Jones (Q67359)

Erastus Jones was a minister and an ecumenist who worked with the Council of Churches for Wales and the Welsh Ecumenical Society. He moved in 1967 to Aberfan to help in the aftermath of the 1966 disaster. He was born in 1918 in Liverpool, where he also attended the University to study Social Sciences. During the Second World War he was a conscientious objector and stayed in Liverpool, during which time he decided to enter the ministry. He then went to Bangor College to study divinity. His first post was at Crewe after which in 1948 he went to Blaendulais. He stayed in Blaendulais until the churches of Merthyr called him in 1966 to represent them in Aberfan following the coal tip disaster. His work was to serve the community as it tried to heal itself, while also using the lessons learned in Aberfan to challenge the rest of the South Wales valleys. He served as a member, secretary and treasurer of many committees and was a member of the Student Christian Movement, the New Campaign in Wales, the Welsh Ecumenical Movement, and the Council of Churches for Wales. In 1947 he visited the Ecumenical Institute in Bosey and attended the international ecumenical conferences of Amsterdam in 1948 and Uppsala in 1968. While in Blaendulais he set up the Blaendulais Ecumenical Centre and Ecumene (the Ecumenical youth movement) under the auspices of the Welsh Ecumenical Movement, and later in Aberfan he worked as a representative of the community through Tŷ Toronto: both establishments were important to the Ecumenical movement in Wales. Following the Aberfan disaster the 'Call to the Valleys' was sent out by Tŷ Toronto with the aim of uniting and regenerating them.