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 a semi-national eisteddfod held at Llanharan on 23 June 1951. They were awarded first prize and there was a report about them in the Pontypridd Observer. By the time of the choir's second annual concert in November 1951, they were known as the Pontypridd and District YMCA Male Voice Choir. They made their first BBC recording in June 1956. It featured in a programme about the centenary of the composition of the music for "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" and the bicentenary of the building of the Old Bridge. A major concert was also held as part of the celebrations in