Monumental Welsh Women series: Betty Campbell MBE

Local TV

Betty Campbell MBE’s has been in place for over three years now and depicts one of Wales’ most inspiring women. She was the first black head teacher in Wales and when this statue was erected, it became the first anywhere in Wales to memorialise a woman. We’ll be taking a look at the statue and her story.

Transcript

00:00Betty Campbell might not be the most well-known name through the last few decades, but her

00:05lasting legacy is clear to see. She was a massive part of racial equality and education

00:10in the UK, and has had an impact on people's lives not just in Wales, but the rest of the

00:15United Kingdom, and has been recognised as part of the monumental Welsh Women's Statue

00:19series. She was born in 1934 in Bute Town near Tiger Bay, one of the first truly multicultural

00:25parts of Wales or the rest of the United Kingdom. She was born to Nora and Simon, both of Caribbean

00:30descent, but lost her father in World War II when his ship was sunk by a torpedo. She

00:35fell pregnant at a young age, and given the time period, around the 1950s, many would

00:39have thought her life would have been at home. But Betty Campbell decided to enrol in teaching

00:43college when she found out they'd started accepting women for the first time, and became

00:48one of the first to graduate. She taught for a number of years, and eventually became head

00:52teacher at her school, kick-starting her career onto much bigger things. When she became

00:58a head teacher at Mount Stewart School, her efforts in education were recognised across

01:02the UK as a template for multicultural education, and earned her a seat at the UK Government's

01:08Home Office's Race Advisory Committee. She was also a member of the Commission for Racial

01:12Equality, and gave her insight into a number of different laws and other government plans.

01:18The school was visited by the future king, Charles III, when he was the Prince of Wales

01:22back in 1994, for the Eisteddfod celebrations, and later was given the opportunity to meet

01:27Nelson Mandela on his only ever trip to Wales. She eventually became a councillor in her

01:33later years, after decades of fighting for racial equality, and was awarded an MBE in

01:372003. She was later awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from Unison for her efforts in social

01:43justice a few years before her death in 2017. Her influence has been monumental for her

01:48community in Bute Town, for Wales and the rest of the UK, and led the way for young

01:52people across the country to be inspired and empowered, paving the way for ethnic minorities

01:58to follow on from her.

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