Betsan Powys

Betsan Powys (born c. 1964), is a Welsh journalist, currently the Editor of Programmes for BBC Radio Cymru.

A native Welsh speaker after being educated at Ysgol Gyfun Llanhari, Powys joined BBC Wales as a News Trainee in 1989, before joining the newsroom in Cardiff as a bilingual, bi-media reporter. Moving to Current Affairs came in 1994, she reported undercover, where one investigation required her to pose as one half of a swinging couple in the "Garden of Eden", a West Wales brothel.

Powys then presented the Welsh language news programme Newyddion, was chief reporter on the European current affairs series Ewropa, and joined Huw Edwards to front United Kingdom national election specials.

Powys was lent for a period to BBC One's flagship current affairs programme Panorama, during which time she returned to Wales to give birth to her daughter. Her first report for Panorama was an investigation into the way Jehovah's Witnesses deal with allegations of child abuse, while her first worldwide exclusive occurred when she persuaded the commanding officer of 30 Royal Welch Fusiliers held hostage in Goražde, Bosnia, to allow her to interview colleagues and friends, agreeing to his condition that the programme would be broadcast only "in the Gaelic tongue."

Powys

Powys (/ˈpoʊ.ɪs/ or /ˈpaʊ.ɪs/;Welsh: [ˈpowɪs]) is a principal area, local-government county and preserved county in Mid Wales. It is named after the successor Kingdom of Powys, which formed after the Romans withdrew from Britain.

Geography

Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire (Breconshire), and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,179 km² (2,000 sq miles), making it the largest county in Wales by land area.

It is bounded to the north by Gwynedd, Denbighshire and Wrexham; to the west by Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire; to the east by Shropshire and Herefordshire; and to the south by Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Monmouthshire and Neath Port Talbot.

Most of Powys is mountainous, with north-south transport being difficult.

The majority of the Powys population lives in villages and small towns. The largest towns are Newtown, Ystradgynlais, Brecon, and Welshpool with populations of 12,783, 9,004, 7,901 and 6,269 respectively (2001). Powys has the lowest population density of all the principal areas of Wales.

Powys (surname)

Powys is a Welsh surname. Notable people with the surname include:

Of the five people above, the first four are descended from the same family that was clearly found in Ludlow, Shropshire in the sixteenth century. There is evidence, but not strong, from the seventeenth century that the Ludlow Powyses came from Cockshot, also in Shropshire, see the unpublished 1662/3 Visitation of Shropshire in the College of Arms. The Cockshot Powyses (and Powis and Powes, etc.) are to be found in public records from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, see charters in Shropshire Record Office. There are other families of Powis who also are probably descended from this Cockshot outpost. While it is attractive to see all these Powys/Powis/Powes as descended from Wales, there is as yet no clear evidence to support this.