Hush-hush visit of Kennedys to Oswestry recalled in new book
They explored the streets and attended mass at the Catholic Church – and Oswestry folk were amazed to see such high profile, unexpected visitors to the town.
That hush-hush visit by Jack Kennedy and his glamorous wife Jackie is the stuff of folklore in the town, and while there are local memories of it happening the detail is vague and the exact date is unknown.
It is featured in a new book called Secret Oswestry by John Idris Jones. He says that Jack Kennedy, who became the American president in January 1961, came to the Brogyntyn home of his friend David Ormsby-Gore, the Oswestry MP.
"During their visit the Kennedys explored the town, where they were observed in the streets and also sat in on a service at the Catholic Church. Later, as Lord and Lady Harlech, the Ormsby-Gores moved to Washington where he was ambassador.
"He was a close advisor to the president during the Cuban missile crisis. The president was assassinated at Dallas in November 1963.
"In 1985 Senator Edward Kennedy and his sister Jean attended Lord Harlech's funeral in Oswestry, which was also attended by Jackie Onassis."
Secret love letters have shown that Lord Harlech, whose wife died in a car crash in 1967, had asked the widowed Jackie Kennedy to marry him, but she turned him down and married instead the shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.
Secret Oswestry is part of a themed series by publisher Amberley. It was the local big town for author John Idris Jones, who was born and spent his early years in the village of Llanrhaeadr.
He points out that Oswestry used to be in Welsh territory, which has a continuing influence.
"My good friend and informant Professor Gruffydd Aled Williams, originally from the Corwen district, speaks of visiting a barber in Oswestry who grew up in the town speaking Welsh.
"He says in his early manhood he attended a dance in Oswestry where more Welsh was spoken than in similar events in Welshpool and Wrexham."
Among features in the town he spotlights are the hill farmer statue, which he says stands in an area called "Red Square" by locals because of the colouring of the paving.
"Ivor Roberts-Jones can be seen as having created a fine work of art. Unfortunately, the farmer's face is looking at Church Street, which is along the direction of the sun, so the farmer's front of body is often in shadow, which is regrettable because the face and torso are very impressively modelled."
Secret Oswestry has 96 pages and 100 illustrations, and costs £14.99.
