Dr Geraint Davies - A Good Man Retired.

Perhaps he preferred to slip away quietly into the night, without anyone noticing. I feel much the same when I want to, or am invited to, 'move on'. But I've never had much luck. My 'moving on' has usually been played out against the backdrop of the sound of kerfuffle. I do not think there is any reason for kerfuffle to accompany the retirement of the Assembly Government's head man in Mid Wales, Dr Geraint Davies, who called it a day on December 31st. First I knew of it was today, when my office rang to try to arrange another of my 'exchange of information' chats at his office in Ladywell House. He was a really good man, and extremely helpful to me. Its fair to say that we trusted each other. I did think of saying nothing at all about Geraint's retirement, but there is no way that was going to happen. So I decided to blog somthing nice.

First met Geraint when he was a relatively junior officer at the Development Board for Rural Wales. Along with the DBRW for which he worked, he was swallowed up by the Welsh Development Agency - which was in turn incorporated into the Assembly Government in what I've always thought of as 'Rhodri's Revenge'. Anyway, it was obvious from early on that Geraint was destined for the top - a point at which he duly arrived. I'm never sure he took to becoming a 'civil servant'. Many others who had worked so dynamically in the DBRW and the WDA felt the same. 'Rhodri's Revenge' did visit the most appalling damage on rural Wales. It was a desperately sad day for the economy of my home area, and despite his undoubted popularity, it was a legacy left by Rhodri Morgan that was as bad as the legacy of Dr Geraint Davies is good.