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Number 10, The Circle

• It is absolutely incredible to think that a building of this significance in British history could be allowed to become derelict. If this were to happen it would show that we have lost all pride in what once made the Valleys of south Wales great. It must be preserved as a museum of both Aneurin Bevan and his creation - the National Health Service - Martyn Vaughan, Newport

• The idea of social solidarity was born with the miners', steelworkers' and tinplate workers' medical aid schemes, covering entire local populations and funded from poundage. These applied in practice the principle "to all according to their need, from all according to their ability" - need to receive care, ability to give it, and ability to pay for it. This was not invented by Lloyd George, but nationalised by him, a great social gain which also entailed much loss of what could have been the beginnings of a democratic service. This was the background to all Nye Bevan's thought, because this was the context of practical solidarity within which he grew up: whether, or even how much, his ideas about the NHS were influenced by his knowledge of the Tredegar Medical Aid Society is therefore a rather silly question. No.10 The Circle is consequently sacred territory, which must be conserved and imaginatively developed as a very important cultural and educational resource, not just for the south Wales valleys but for all Wales. It should have urgent attention from the Assembly. Earlier this year, at a BMA conference, NHS Wales was described by Simon Stevens (formerly adviser on health to Prime Minister Blair, now director of the European section of giant US company UnitedHealth) as the placebo control for England's current experiment in fully marketed health care. Hopefully, this view will not be shared by Labour in the Assembly, nor most of the opposition. This will not be a comparison between an illusory treatment on the one hand and a real treatment on the other, but a struggle between two concepts of society - one based on motivation by co-operative solidarity, the other on motivation by competition for profit. Each view needs its own icons and history. Anyone seriously committed to the NHS in Wales must help to ensure restoration of the Tredegar Medical Aid Centre to a central role in this necessary process.- Dr Julian Tudor Hart, distinguished G. P. and author

• I was pleased to read about the refurbishment of No 10 The Circle. It is long overdue - but what now of its future? Options are being considered and I'm sure that the selected ones will be chosen. I would like to offer my suggestion. People of my generation (I was born in 1942) know about the wonderful life and work of Aneurin Bevan but couldn't we make the story of the birth of the NHS more romantic so that it will grip the imagination of our children for generations to come? In the words of Aneurin Bevan: Why don't we try for the contents of No 10 "to reveal the unfolding of a multi-coloured panorama before the eyes of every child every day". In order to achieve this, let's take our story back further than Bevan's wonderful achievement in Parliament. Let's go back to the birth of the Tredegar Medical Aid Society. Youngsters might find more appealing the story of a few local men who turned their dreams into reality. Dreams that would eventually, not only change the life of a small mining town, but that of a nation. What an example to set our children - to pursue their dreams, because who knows where their dreams might eventually lead... (we need to capture) the bright-eyed enthusiasm of young people for years to come, so that they can fully understand the importance of No 10 The Circle. - Ron James, Tredegar

• As a 'Tredegar boy' who still lives in the town, I am rather excited about the prospect of your news of developing 10, The Circle, a building with huge potential, into a facility that serves the community in which it is set. My vision for number 10, which fits neatly into one of the suggestions on your website as a 'centre for developing strategies for healthy living', would see it become a state of the art contact centre for vulnerable adults. The ground floor would be used as a drop in / contact centre for people who experience mental ill health. Food could be prepared on site to ensure that visitors received a healthy meal or snack.…. The building could also be used as a signposting service where people would also be advised where to access other services and / or sources of information. all under one roof….. I envisage the first floor of the building with its array of separate rooms could then be used to accommodate a range of agencies and services to meet the holistic needs of the people who visit the contact centre… - Jonathan Pearce, Supported Housing Co-ordinator, Abergavenny Mind Association

• I feel that 10 The Circle should be preserved as a museum to The Medical Aid Society, Aneurin Bevan and Walter Conway. These people were the creators of The Medical Aid Society after the Query Fund was disbanded. The idea that led to the formation of The NHS came from a small town in its infancy and I don't think it should be forgotten. This museum should also pay tribute to Lord Tredegar who donated the land for Tredegar General Hospital, Mr Whitehead of the works, who helped the funds to equip the hospital, Dr Davies who was the Chief Medical Officer and indeed the workmen of Tredegar. Without all these things there would have been no Medical Aid and no National Health Service. Let us not forget that this comes from Tredegar and should be kept as such. I sincerely hope this mail meets with your approval because I think it is one claim to fame that should not leave Tredegar - Brian Turner, Tredegar
  
  
• Nye Bevan was an important figure in the history of the UK and I fully support this effort to educate people about his role in setting up the NHS - David Davies Conservative MP for Monmouthshire

  
  

• Thanks very much for letting me know about this exciting venture. I am delighted to hear about your fine work to capture a tangible memory of the pioneering days of socialism. Millions of lives have been touched by the NHS here and its imitators in other countries. I remember the generosity of a family doctor when I was a young child before we had an NHS. Knowing that my widowed mother could not afford the half-a-crown charge for his visit, he took the coin then rolled it along the floor back to my brother and myself for us to catch. Without that, the family could not have afforded the cost of his -perhaps vital- visit. The debt of gratitude we owe to the brave original comradeship of the people of Tredegar is immense. - Paul Flynn, MP for Newport West

• I am pleased to offer my support for the funding application being made by the Tredegar Development Trust to preserve the offices of the former Tredegar Workmen's Medical Aid Society which provided Aneurin Bevan with the model for the NHS. The Trust is working towards preserving this building of historic importance for the benefit of the local community. - Mike German, Leader, Welsh Liberal Democrats in the National Assembly

• The Society was an excellent and important example of the principle of mutuality, where organisations are created and managed in order to serve the interests of their members in the delivery of many services to which they could not otherwise gain access. In the 19th century we saw this model used extensively in the provision of building societies and insurance companies for working people. Some of these later became some of the most significant financial institutions in Britain. The Tredegar Medical Aid Society was undoubtedly the most important example of the use of this mutuality principle in the provision of medical services, and ... strongly influenced Aneurin Bevan in the discussions leading to the creation of the NHS. Mutuality still has an important role today in the 21st century. Many of the leading banks, building societies and insurance companies in Europe are mutual societies owned by their savers and policy-holders... As these organisations are actually owned by their members, their standards of care towards their customers set the standard for the rest of the business world. I lead a group of cross-party MEPs from across Europe who are keen to maintain this principle of mutuality and extend it more widely. While I have noted and understand the reasoning for devoting considerable attention to the Bevan connection and the Labour Party history, there is in my view a wider international significance in also linking the history of the Tredegar Medical Aid Society to the history of mutuality in Europe, which continues to play such an important role in the structure of service organisations and which I hope will not be over-looked by your group - Tredegar-born Jonathan Evans, MEP Conservative MEP, whose grandfather, a councillor, was a Medical Aid Society member and served on the committee.

• I am so pleased to hear of plans and hopefully adequate funding to safeguard the future of No 10, The Circle. I am a native of Tredegar but have lived in Edinburgh for the last 38 years.... and feel it's so important to preserve the offices of the Medical Aid Society (of which my father was a member) which was so important in becoming a role model for the NHS. I would like to see it being used as an active centre for the development of healthy living while also incorporating a small museum of the history for any visitors... - Judith Young, Edinburgh

• What a wonderful idea to preserve our heritage! We should be proud that a man like Aneurin Bevan took the initiative from these humble beginnings to form the basis of the NHS... It is important to inform current and future generations about the importance of this building and renovating it and preserving it should be of utmost importance. A museum dedicated to explaining how the Medical Aid Society worked and how Aneurin Bevan took inspiration to form the NHS should be an inspiration to us all - N Mathers, Tredegar

• A letter of support has been received from a 'former valley dweller' who 'might make a small contribution' towards a scheme to restore 10 The Circle. "I am particularly interested to hear if you will be turning it into a museum or other public facility and if the Tredegar Workmen's (Medical Aid Society's) history will be included in that" - E Ramsay, Canada

• ''Aneurin Bevan, inspired by the egalitarian principles on which the Tredegar Working Men's Medical Aid Society had been based, applied socialist zeal and Welsh determination to create the National Health Service in 1948, the most far-reaching piece of social legislation in British history'' - Medical History Forum who feel that the History of Medicine, particularly Welsh Medicine, deserves a higher profile than it currently enjoys

• The National Health Service is ''Wales' greatest gift'' - Chancellor Gordon Brown during a visit to Wales in April 2005.

• Tredegar was "the cradle of the NHS" said Dr Brian Gibbons, the Health Minister for the Wales Assembly, in May 2005 during the launch at Tredegar of Designed For Life, a 10-year plan to create a world-class health and social care system in Wales by shifting the focus from tackling illness towards preventing disease. He told of visiting the town 30 years ago as a tourist because of his interest in the NHS and a wish to see where it had all started.

• "All too often we preserve memorials to great princes or tycoons of industry, but Aneurin Bevan's life is a story of the working people in these valleys. Our heritage of buildings such as miners' institutes............. tell the tale of the solidarity of working people in the face of tremendous adversity, and the Tredegar Medical Aid Society was a pioneering example of how people achieve more together than they do alone"
  - Don Touhig, MP for Islwyn
  

• I strongly support the initiative" - Glenys Kinnock

• "I am delighted as a Member of Parliament and National Assembly Member to welcome this important development and initiative of the Tredegar Development Trust in commissioning a website particularly relating to the important work of the former Tredegar Medical Aid Society throughout Tredegar and the whole of Blaenau Gwent. We are particularly proud of the important part that Tredegar Medical Aid Society played in the mind of Aneurin Bevan when he designed the National Health Service - a great legacy that he left to us which of course is the envy of the world and from which we all benefit today over 50 years on. I can think of no better place for an archive to celebrate the major contribution to the world of the greatest son of Blaenau Gwent and it is particularly fortuitous that it links in to the local strategy for healthy living." - the late Peter Law, MP for Blaenau Gwent, and Assembly Member

• "Let me congratulate you on an excellent initiative" - Hywel Francis MP

• "Thank you for your e-mail ... about your plans to preserve and refurbish the offices of the former Tredegar Medical Aid Society at 10, The Circle, Tredegar. I was most interested to read about your proposals and certainly agree that such a use would be a fitting tribute to the work of that pioneering society, the people of Tredegar and Nye Bevan himself
  - Peter Hain MP, Secretary of State for Wales

• "I wish you every success with your project"
  - Alun Pugh, when he was Minister for Culture, Welsh Language and Sport