Casgliadau Arlein

Jazz singer, writer, radio presenter and campaigner (1937-2020). Born Patricia Maude Young in Sophia Street, Cardiff, the youngest child of Wilmott George Young and Beatrice Young (nee Silver). Her father was a merchant seaman from St Moriah, Jamaica. Her mother was from Cardiff and worked for Mr and Mrs Ugarte who had a Spanish restaurant in George Street. The family moved to 40 Pomeroy Street when she was one year old. She later went to Clarence Road Primary School (next door to Curran's Factory). Her father was killed when she was four years old, when his ship was torpedoed during the Second World War. Two of her brothers also lost their lives during the war - Jocelyn Young was aboard a merchant navy boat that was torpedoed in the North Atlantic in 1940, and her older brother Sgt Arthur Young, a wireless operator in the RAF, died when his damaged Lancaster bomber crashed returning from France in 1944. Patti Flynn was a Black History Month Wales Patron and campaigned for 26 years for a memorial to commemorate the sacrifice of black and ethnic minority service personnel. She died on 10 September 2020, aged 83 years.