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Recordiad sain / Audio recording: Ron Silver
Oral history recording with Ron Silver collected as part of The Hineni Project, an insight into the life and stories of a Jewish community in all its diversity. Hineni was a collaborative project between Cardiff Reform Synagogue and Butetown History & Arts Centre.
I was born in Llandaff, Cardiff in 1942. My father and mother were born in Poland and came to Cardiff in the early part of the twentieth century. They were both very involved in the Orthodox community in Cardiff. My father was vice president of the Cardiff United Synagogue and involved with the Jewish Old Age Home in Penylan, and my mother, Betty, was a member of the Cardiff branch of WIZO. After her death in 1963 they changed the name of the group to the Betty Silver Group. I went to Marlborough Road Primary School where there were lots of other Jewish children. I suppose most of my friends through school were Jewish. I remember all of us used to stay out of morning prayers. It was good growing up Jewish in Cardiff; there was a lot of activity. My biggest memory is of Saturday afternoons where we would all go to the Orthodox synagogue in Penylan in the morning, then get together in a crowd in the afternoon at various people’s houses. I’ve had a number of careers over the years. I worked in my father’s car dealership for about ten years after which, together with my brother-in-law, I had a very successful business manufacturing power boats, and after selling this, qualified as a commercial airline pilot. I worked firstly for Skyways and then Dan Air until 1984, eventually flying jet aircraft. I took over the family business in Cardiff, which was mainly involved with property. I still do this today. As a pilot, I was initially based in Aberdeen, then Newcastle-upon-Tyne, then Manchester, eventually moving to Bristol. I met my wife, Sandie, when I was in Aberdeen. We got married in 1983 and have three children. We joined Menorah Synagogue upon moving to Manchester and Bristol and West Progressive in Bristol, where we were both very involved with the synagogue. We moved to Cardiff in 1991 and joined the Reform as soon as we arrived. My family have been very involved in Cardiff Reform Synagogue. Sandie was head of religion school, ran the book shop and the school visits for some years, and she is now on the committee of Cardiff Ziona. My son and daughters were members of the synagogue’s youth movement, and one taught and helped out in religion school. As for me, I have been on the synagogue council for many years, was vice-chairman for three years, and have been the chairman since 2010. As chairman, I’m involved with the day-to-day running of the synagogue. It’s an important part of my life. The synagogue is certainly less vibrant today than when we first joined. Bar and bat mitzvahs are less frequent, but we do have a good turnout for services and have events going on and, as is often the case in small Jewish communities, people make the effort they wouldn’t make otherwise. I’m not despondent about it; I think we do very well. We have a very good relationship with the wider community; it’s something that we work very hard at, and hopefully it can get better still. We host a large number of school children who come to visit the synagogue, where a group of members talk to them and explain about Judaism and the running of the synagogue. I think that is one of the many ways in which we relate to the rest of the community in Wales. I enjoy being Welsh and always support Wales, particularly at rugby. It’s a lovely place to live, Cardiff in particular. I’m proud to be both Jewish and Welsh.