   helen mary jones (born 29 june 1960) is a plaid cymru politician, who was a member of the national assembly for wales from 1999 to 2011. ==background== jones was born in colchester, essex. she was educated at colchester county high school for girls, llanfair caereinion high school in powys and the university of wales, aberystwyth. she has taught in the special education field and has held various positions in youth, community and social work. ==political career== she is a member of plaid cymru - the party of wales. her political interests include environmental issues, social justice, equal opportunities, children's rights and employment. she unsuccessfully contested the 1992 general election in islwyn against the then leader of the labour party, neil kinnock, and the 1997 general election in montgomeryshire. in 1999 she was elected to the new national assembly for wales for the constituency of llanelli. prior to being elected as am for llanelli she was senior development manager with the equal opportunities commission in wales. she was shadow minister for education and lifelong learning, and a member of the education and lifelong learning committee, the equality of opportunity committee, the south west wales regional committee and also a member of the voluntary sector partnership during the first term of the national assembly. in the [[welsh assembly election, 2003|2003 elections t
1960_births Alumni_of_Aberystwyth_University Living_people People_educated_at_Colchester_County_High_School Plaid_Cymru_Members_of_the_National_Assembly_for_Wales Plaid_Cymru_politicians Wales_AMs_1999a2003 Wales_AMs_2003a07 Wales_AMs_2007a11 Welsh-speaking_people Welsh_politicians Welsh_women_in_politics