How a Welsh Café Club Helped Shape Ideas Behind the NHS

In the winter of 1921, a group of young people started meeting in a café in Tredegar, a town in Blaenau Gwent, Wales. They called themselves the Query Club, and it was a semi-secret society that examined socialist ideas. Socialist ideas are ideas about shared ownership and fairness for working people.

Among the young debaters in the club was Aneurin Bevan. He was the son of a miner. Later in his life, Bevan founded the NHS, the National Health Service, and became minister for health and housing. According to BBC News, the club was an important part of his early life.

The Query Club had one member who was over 30. His name was Walter Conway, and he was an orphan who had been raised in the local workhouse. In 1915, Conway became secretary of the Tredegar Medical Aid Society. Under his leadership, the society grew from 5,000 members to 20,000 by the time of his death in 1933.

At that time, the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company held major influence in the town. The Query Club took part in local politics too. In 1922, it put Bevan up for the town council. By 1929, five of the 16 town council members were Query Club members.

That same year, 1929, Bevan was elected as MP for Ebbw Vale. Before this, he had been elected to Newport county council. The club's badge featured a question mark, which reflected its name and its habit of asking questions.

MI5, the British security service, followed Bevan for 20 years. The club's story is still remembered in Tredegar today. The Tredegar Medical Aid Society building now houses a heritage centre, and inside it is a Query Club room.