History
In the first Assembly (1999-2003), she was Chair of the Local Government and Housing committee.
Mrs Thomas served on West Glamorgan County Council as Chair of the Social Services Committee - the first female councillor to chair a such a major committee. She later served in the same position on Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council following local government reorganisation in 1995.
Educated at Pontardawe Grammar School, she worked in the County Courts Division of the Lord Chancellor's Department and at the Benefits Agency as an Executive officer for many years.
Mrs Thomas is a campaigner for carers' rights and a past member of the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee. Her interests include health, social services, children's issues, local government and the voluntary sector.
Read more about this topic: Gwenda Thomas
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And now I recommend you to go home and sleep quietly in your beds.”
—Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940)
“... the history of the race, from infancy through its stages of barbarism, heathenism, civilization, and Christianity, is a process of suffering, as the lower principles of humanity are gradually subjected to the higher.”
—Catherine E. Beecher (1800–1878)
“... in America ... children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)