Annie Powell a CPGB delegate at a major conference of Communist parties in Moscow, where she claimed to have impressed Nikita Khrushchev with her rendition of "Hen Wlad fy Nhadau", the national anthem of Wales. Perhaps as a result of this meeting, she became a supporter of Khrushchev's ideas within the CPGB. In 1955, after thirteen attempts, Powell was elected as a Communist councillor for Penygraig, losing in 1957. In 1961, Powell was re-elected as a councillor in Rhondda. She served on the council for the next twenty years, and in 1979 was appointed mayor. As such, she is often said to
Côr Meibion Pontypridd Gwilym T Jones was appointed conductor and Miss Agnes Wilson accompanist. The first concert was performed in June 1950. The following year the choir started entering competitions, and were awarded first prize at the Llanharan "Semi National" Eisteddfod, and were again placed first two weeks later at Glynneath. The choir were involved in celebrations of the centenary of the composition of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau and the bicentenary of the Old Bridge, Pontypridd. Stuart Burrows was the guest artiste at a concert in 1959, and in the same year Harry Secombe and Geraint Evans appeared together for the first time,