We were young, full of verve and enthusiasm, and yet it would surprise me when he\u2019d go and sit somewhere on his own, for hours, just reading the papers he\u2019d been carrying around in his plastic bag.\u00a0 It always seemed so solitary and \u2018Dadlike\u2019, an anathema to the energy, wit and humour which we\u2019d all hang off when he was in the zone.<\/p>\n
On Hefin\u2019s \u2018Hag\u2019 do in Tenby, Sally had the genius idea (which I operationalised) of all dressing up as Hefins, with his black rimmed glasses, carrier bag and towel (a Welsh flag of course) slung over our shoulders.\u00a0 Behold, his amazing reaction as he reached the top of our upside-down house rental stairs to see us all in our Hefin glory.<\/p>\n And here, on the final day of the wonderful weekend, this perfect \u2018life imitating art\u2019 shot.<\/p>\n Whilst working, Hefin had secured his PhD, specialising in the decision-making processes that micro businesses enter into when deciding to take on their first employee. TL:DR \u2018yikes it\u2019s a risk – let me see who I know in my network who can do the work I need doing first<\/em><\/strong>\u2019 (yes, me flippantly summarising his years of research into a sentence \u2013 another thing I liked to tease him about. It\u2019s a wonder I have any friends left to be honest \u2013 well, the numbers do seem to be decreasing).<\/p>\n And then he moved into politics. I say \u2018moved into\u2019, politics was always a part of him and again, when in your early 20s I found it completely baffling to experience a man who could talk avidly and explicitly about nights spent in the Gilfach \u2018Workies\u2019 (a working man\u2019s club in the valleys) followed by dancing in \u2018Blisters\u2019 (I don\u2019t think the nightclub was actually called that, but that\u2019s what he reliably told us everyone seemed to call it) who would also regularly <\/em><\/strong>rewatch HOURS<\/em><\/strong> of VHS tapes of the 1997 general election result night. I think it was that one. Hefin would know.<\/p>\n It was wonderful to see his political career develop. I always knew politics was something that he cared deeply about, and whilst he had serious political ambitions, of course he did, he was something really quite rare – he genuinely put the needs of the community he served, and his personal values and beliefs, before <\/em><\/strong>that which would benefit him professionally.\u00a0 This added a new depth to him in my eyes – the decisions that he took to champion others before himself demonstrated the strength of his character.<\/p>\n He was astonishingly honest about what he actually thought. Like breathtakingly so. He was, for the most part, a real \u2018sharer\u2019. Which as I got older, increasingly terrified me, particularly when under threat of redundancy \ud83d\ude2c. I mean, one of my most career limiting attributes is also my ability to say what I actually think but even I would never call someone an \u2018utter kn*b\u2019 in Welsh on Twitter.<\/p>\n I was so cross with him at the time, but even after reading all of the hundreds of messages of people expressing how sad they are that he\u2019s no longer here because he helped them so much, whether it was taking on the system to get their child the autism diagnosis they needed or standing up for a community whose property maintenance charges inexplicably and massively increased, I\u2019m now thinking of those spontaneous, dare I say, brave, public expressions of what he was actually thinking as some of the things that, for me at least, I\u2019m the most quietly in awe of.<\/p>\n I know he wouldn’t have felt that way.<\/p>\n In a recent WhatsApp exchange where I\u2019d commented on how good he was on ITV\u2019s \u2018Sharp End\u2019 (I had \u2018series linked\u2019 it such was the regularity of his appearances) I told him:<\/p>\n \u201cWith the rise of AI, for politics to survive, it\u2019s going to have to be more you. I can see it marking essays that we have given the green AI light. You become hungry for a glimmer of humanity. I think humanity and emotion are going to be so much more important in every walk of life. Keep doing what you are doing Hef. Just don\u2019t call people penises on Twitter\u201d.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/554\/2025\/08\/Hefin-laughing.jpg\")
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