Committee PWYLLGOR 2024/2025

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Aileen, a former President of The Montgomeryshire Society, was elected as Chairperson in 2021.  

Aileen grew up outside Cardiff but her roots are in Montgomeryshire. She is a now an independent non-executive director on several boards, including Welsh National Opera and is notable for becoming the first woman to join the board of the Welsh Rugby Union in 2015.

As a businesswoman, she worked for Mars, Incorporated for 30 years, becoming Executive Vice President in 2012.

  Helen Gunn was born and brought up in Wimbledon. She attended Wimbledon High School and went on to Bristol University where she read English.

Her connection to Montgomeryshire is through her mother, Barbara, who was the only child of Mr and Mrs R.W.Griffiths, of the Woodlands, Forden, and was herself a member of the Montgomeryshire Society. From an early age, Helen and her two sisters spent most of their school holidays in mid-Wales.

Helen’s first job was as an editorial assistant at “Country Life” magazine. After a brief spell working for “Harpers & Queen” and “The Field”, she returned to “Country Life” as a writer, and contributed to the Country Notes column for 10 years. For this, she drew largely upon her knowledge of and affection for Montgomeryshire, its landscape and its characters.

Always a keen gardener, Helen joined “The English Garden” magazine at its inception in 1997, and wrote the monthly back-page column for nine years. She also led tours of Italian gardens for the Garden Club of America.

Helen was married to the painter and writer Christopher Neve, and has one son, Owen, who is training to be an architect.

The Griffiths family has been rooted in Powys for many centuries and have been farmers for many generations. Willie Griffiths, Helen’s grandfather, of whom she has slight but fond memories, was renowned for his services to agriculture and business. In 1933 he set up the National Milk Bars chain, largely to provide an outlet for the milk he was producing. He was made High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire for the year of Elizabeth II’s coronation, and in 1961 was awarded the prestigious Sir Bryner Jones trophy by the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society.

He was attending a meeting of the RWAS in London the following year when he collapsed and died. He had been advocating the idea of a fixed site for the Royal Welsh Show, a measure which was adopted two years later. 

Mrs Florence Griffiths continued to farm at Woodlands and run the Milk Bars until her death in 1989.

Next year, it will be 100 years since Helen’s grandparents came to Woodlands. Happily, it still continues as a family home, where the sense of continuity and family connection are greatly valued.