Cymdeithas Gymraeg Vancouver

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1 THE WELSH SOCIETY OF VANCOUVER Cymdeithas Gymraeg Vancouver Cambrian News Gorffenaf July Society Newsletter Cylchgrawn y Gymdeithas Welsh Spring Sale CAMBRIAN HALL, 215 East 17 th Ave, Vancouver B.C. V5V 1A6

2 VANCOUVER WELSH SOCIETY Officers: President: Jane Byrne Vice- President: Nant Roberts Secretary: Eifion Williams Treasurer: Gaynor Evans Membership Secretary: Alcwyn Rogers Immediate Past President: John Morris Directors: Heather Davies Gwyn Evans Antone Minard (Recording Secretary) Gethin Owen Contacts Building Committee: John Morris Cambrian Circle Singers: Nerys Haqq Church Service: John Pritchard Rentals: Richard Williams Social Events Committee: Gillian Rogers Welsh Speaking Group: John Pritchard Welsh Learners Group: Antone Minard Webmaster: Alcwyn Rogers ( Newsletter Editor: David Llewelyn Williams The Cambrian News From The Editor: This issue is much delayed, so only now is there a report on the Spring Sale. I am once again grateful to Eifion Williams for his several contributions as well as Anne s photographs of the Sale. The most remarkable contribution to the long term health of the Society has been made by a dedicated group of volunteers. Together they are estimated to have put in a total of at least 650 hours during the months of May and June renovating the Red Dragon. This is truly exceptional. A celebration is planned for September 29 th in recognition of their achievement. Under the heading Latest on our website, there are photographs documenting the scope of the work. The extent and quality of this contribution is readily apparent. A proper report will appear in a subsequent newsletter. The 2012 North American Festival of Wales will be held from August 30 to September 2 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Details of the Program and Registration forms are also available on our website under Latest. Some of us will be there! Be sure not to miss The Jubilee Garden Party on August 18 th and start looking ahead to our November weekend: Vancouver Celebrates Wales. David Llewelyn Williams

3 Forthcoming Events Summer and Fall Monday, July 16 th at 7.30 pm Welsh Lessons resume. Monday, July 23 rd, 10:00 am till 3:00. Work Party Day A delicious home made lunch will be provided. Looking forward to seeing you there! Monday, August 6 th at 7.30 pm Welsh Lesson The Jubilee Garden Party Welsh Society Members are invited to a Jubilee Garden Party on Saturday, August 18 th from 2 pm. Lynn and Wilf Owens-Whalen have again very kindly offered the use of their home and beautiful garden for this special summer event. As there is some planning involved, it would be very much appreciated if interested members would contact Gillian Rogers at ( gillian.rogers@shaw.ca) by Saturday, August 11 th with names and numbers of people attending. We would like to share appetizers, cold cuts, salads and desserts so please let us know what you would like to contribute to the table. BYOB, juice, water or your choice of beverage. We may need extra lawn chairs. Looking forward to seeing you there! The Social Committee Monday, August 20 th at 7.30pm Welsh Lesson Wednesday, September 5 th at 7.30 pm Executive Meeting. Sunday, September 9 th at 11:00 am Bilingual Church Service This will be followed by a Tê Bach Monday, September 10 th at 7.30 pm GENERAL MEETING Wednesday, Sept. 12 th at 12 noon The Cambrian Bookworms will discuss The Saxon Shore by Jack Whyte. Monday, September 17 th at 10:30 am Welsh speaking - Siarad Cymraeg Monday, September 24 rd, 10:00 am till 3:00. Work Party Day A delicious home made lunch will be provided. Saturday, September 29 th at 7.30 pm The Red Dragon Renovation Celebration Details to follow! Mark your Calendar! Vancouver Celebrates Wales Friday, November 2 nd Anniversary Dinner at the Cambrian Hall. Saturday, November 3 rd Vancouver Welsh Society and West Point Grey United Church will present Vancouver Celebrates Wales; an Evening of Entertainment with guest artists directly from Wales. Sunday, November 4 th at 11:00 am Bilingual Church Service followed by a Tê Bach. At 2pm we will hold our traditional Gymanfa Ganu, conducted by Eifion Thomas, Musical Director of the Llanelli Male voice Choir. The soloist will be Nerys Jones, harpist and mezzosoprano, and the accompanist will be Barry Yamanouchi.

4 CAMBRIAN HALL SPRING SALE A ROARING SUCCESS This year s Welsh Society Spring Sale proved to be even more successful than previous Sales events. Prospective buyers were lined up outside the Cambrian Hall before the 10am opening and for the first hour the Hall was packed with people checking out the items on display and sales were brisk. auction of more valuable items donated by over thirty organizations and companies. As in past years, the briskest sales were at the baked goods table where some items sold out in the first hour. The Sale s volunteer workers and customers also took advantage of the Tea Room set up in the Lower Hall, which served as a social gathering place. The Spring Sale organizers, led by Social Committee Chair Gillian Rogers, were pleased with the response from Welsh Society members and the public at large. The number of donated items far exceeded expectations and the money raised on behalf of the Welsh Society exceeded that of previous years. Eifion Williams (photos by Anne Williams) In Memory Of John Desmond Wilkinson Many customers also found bargains in used household goods, electronic items, books, clothing, luggage and a variety of other miscellaneous items. Many bargains were obtained from the silent

5 John passed away on June 9 th He was born on June 13 th 1926 in Cwm near Ebbw Vale, Wales. A Celebration of John s Life was held on June 19 th. Our members Allan Hunter and Barrie Hancock acted as joint Masters of Ceremony. John trained as a teacher and received his Bachelor s Degree from UBC and his Master s Degree from Western Washington State. He taught at John Oliver High School in Vancouver until his retirement in John was also a veteran and served with the South Wales Borderers as a Lieutenant, He also served with the Gurka Rifles in India. John was part of the group of people that got together in 1974 to develop the basement of the Welsh Hall. He was instrumental in purchasing the carpet that is still there today. John was one of the founders of the Welsh Men s Choir and also of the Orpheus Choir. He had a great love of singing and his achievements were recognized by the Vancouver Choral Society. He will be missed by his family and also by his many friends in the two choirs. VWMC AND AUSTRALIAN CHOIR GIVE LAST CONCERT BEFORE UK TOUR The Vancouver Welsh Men s Choir held its final concert on June 19 in Vancouver s Christ Church Cathedral before leaving on a July tour of the United Kingdom. During the tour the choir will sing in major cities in England, Scotland and Wales, with a finale in London, where it will be joined by representative choirs from five continents in a massed combined international choir called the Wales Choir of the World, part of the lead-up to the 2012 London Olympics. One of the choirs set to share the London stage with the VWMC is the Metropolitan Male Choir of South Australia, which also shared the Christ Church concert with the VWMC. The Australian choir is on a tour of North America before heading to London. For the first half of the programme the capacity audience at Christ Church was entertained by the Metropolitan Choir, conducted by Musical Director Evan Patton. Highlights were the choir s popular renditions of I Am Australian and Waltzing Matilda. The choir also paid homage to its partly Welsh origins by singing the hymn Rachie in Welsh and the popular Gwahoddiad in English. Soloists accompanying the choir, soprano Stella Panozzo and tenor Ernst Enns, also sang a selection of operatic arias which were well received by the audience. The first half ended with the two choirs joining together and raising the rafters with Speed Your Journey and Stout Hearted Men. After the intermission the VWMC, led by multi-talented conductor Jonathan Quick, sang several numbers from the choir s varied repertoire, including the ever-popular Men of Harlech and You Raise Me Up. Soloist Natasha Neufeld gave a beautiful rendition of The Ash Grove and also accompanied the Choir in two traditional spirituals. The evening ended with the combined choirs giving a rousing rendition of Take Me Home and When the Saints Go Marching In, an enjoyable foretaste of what the London audience might expect when the two choirs, joined by several others, sing in the Royal Festival Hall in July. Eifion Williams

6 THE MAN WHO SAVED THE WELSH LANGUAGE Visitors crossing the border into Wales are often surprised to see the Welsh Language displayed so prominently on the nation s road signs. The bilingual signs are in fact a result of direct action taken over the past few years to improve the status of the Welsh language. It has been exactly fifty years since Welsh literary icon Saunders Lewis delivered an address on BBC Wales that many now believe saved the Welsh language from extinction. The speech was called Tynged yr Iaith (Fate of the Language) and in it Lewis warned that Welsh was in imminent danger of disappearing as a living language unless urgent steps were taken to preserve it. The warning came after the 1961 census revealed that the number of Welsh speakers had declined by 10% over the previous thirty years. A direct result of the broadcast was the formation of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (Welsh Language Society) which campaigned vigorously for measures to preserve the language and promote bilingualism at all levels of government in Wales. As a result of the campaign, the British Parliament has over the past fifty years passed legislation resulting in Welsh being placed on an equal footing with English at all levels of government in Wales, from the Welsh Assembly down to local parish councils. All government publications and communications must now be made available in Welsh. Today, Wales not only has bilingual road signs but also a Welsh language television station, a growing publishing and film production industry in Welsh, and even Welsh pop and rock music. The increasing number of Welsh language schools has attracted pupils from all social and linguistic backgrounds and the schools are renowned for their high academic standards. The present-day vibrancy of the language is almost entirely due to the reaction to the 1962 broadcast. Saunders Lewis, who died in 1985, is now regarded by many of his compatriots as a nationalist hero. Yet in many ways he was a controversial figure. He was first and foremost the author of popular novels and plays in both Welsh and English and in 1970 was nominated for a Nobel Prize in Literature. Saunders Lewis was born in Wallasey, Cheshire to Welsh speaking family. He served as an officer in the South Wales Borderers in World War One, following which he decided on an academic career and became active in nationalist causes. In 1925 he was one of the founders of Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party He also converted to Roman Catholicism in a country where the vast majority of his countrymen were Protestant. In 1936 Lewis, along with nationalists D. J. Williams and Lewis Valentine, protested the establishment of a bombing school on the Llŷn peninsula in North Wales by setting fire to one of the buildings. Two areas in England had already been rejected as bombing school locations because of local protests. The three confessed to the arson, were tried and convicted at London s Old Bailey and sent to Wormwood Scrubs prison for nine months. His criminal conviction temporarily interrupted Lewis s academic career but he continued to

7 write and eventually returned in 1952 as a lecturer at Cardiff University. His radio broadcast ten years later solidified his place in Welsh history as one of the nation s foremost patriots. Eifion Williams Dewi Emrys Newsletter readers are aware that in 1948, at the National Eisteddfod in Bridgend, our Thomas Edwards was the first Leader of the Overseas Welsh and the Bardic Chair, created in Vancouver was donated by the Vancouver Welsh. The winner of that Chair was Dewi Emrys (James) pictured below. Welsh poetry. The program features Mererid Hopwood and Tudur Dylan Jones, both Chaired Bards, discussing and reciting the poetry of significant Welsh poets. It is a richly brilliant program, which should make us proud of our Chair winner. The episode on Dewi Emrys can be found at WJ6GMB4p- x4&feature=youtu.be It concludes with the poem, which I have attempted to translate : Y Gorwel Wele rith fel ymyl rhod o n cwmpas Campwaith dewin hynod. Hen linell bell nad yw n bod, Hen derfyn nad yw n darfod The Horizon Behold an illusion like a wheel s rim, A magician s masterwork surrounds us. An ancient distant non- existent line, An endless border it cannot define. (D.Ll.W.) This was the fourth Chair he won and afterwards it was decreed, by those who were afraid that he might win again, that no major award could be won more than twice. A remarkable biography of Dewi Emrys was written by Eluned Phillips, herself a double winner of the Crown. I presented a version, largely in English, at one of our bi- lingual Church Services. Recently I was made aware of an S4C program series entitled Gwlad Beirdd, the often forgotten National Anthem part celebrating the uniqueness of For those of you interested in more historical detail, you can view an old film of David Lloyd George and Dewi at the National using v= K- tmu0genvy in the same structure as before. Note that 0 is a zero not an O. I am greatly indebted to Iona Wyn Jones for all of this priceless information. A Trust to protect a historical site. A Trust has been established by Kathryn Gibson in an attempt to preserve this historical site from development. Detailed research has been undertaken; you can find the lengthy document under the title Pen-y-Bryn. The following is taken from Garth Celyn at Aber Garth Celyn, was the 13th century home of the Welsh

8 princes Llywelyn Fawr, Dafydd ap Llywelyn and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd.. Garth Celyn is a promontory of land overlooking the Menai Strait and the port of Llanfaes on the opposite shore. The Roman road that linked Conovium to Segontium (Caernarfon) looped round the Garth. Protected to the east by the headland of Penmaenmawr, and at its rear by Snowdonia (Eryri), it controlled the ancient crossing point of the Lafan Sands to Anglesey (Ynys Mon). A pre- Roman defensive enclosure, Maes y Gaer, which rises above Garth Celyn on the eastern side of the valley, has far reaching views over Irish Sea with the Isle of Man visible on a clear day. The Roman road from Chester, linking the forts of Conovium and Segontium, crossed the river at this point. At the end of the twelfth century, beginning of the thirteenth century, Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, Llywelyn Fawr, utilized the promontory to build a royal home, known as Ty Hir, the Long House, in later documents. To the east was the newly endowed Cistercian Monastry of Aberconwy, to the west the cathedral city of Bangor. Between Garth Celyn and the shore, the fertile farmland, provided food for the royal family and the members of the court. The sea and the river had fish in abundance and there was wild game to be hunted in the uplands. In 1211 King John of England brought an army across the river Conwy, and occupied the royal home for a brief period; his troops went on to burn Bangor. Llywelyn's wife, John's daughter Joan, negotiated between the two men, and John withdrew. Joan died at Garth Celyn in 1237; Dafydd ap Llywelyn died there in 1246; Eleanor de Montfort, Lady of Wales, wife of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, died there on 19 June 1282, giving birth to a baby, Gwenllian of Wales. On 11 December 1282, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the Welsh Prince of Wales, was executed. The correspondence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, preserved in Lambeth Palace Archives, London, provides details of the events surrounding the death. In November 1282 Llywelyn had been offered a secret bribe by the English crown; the sum of one thousand pounds a year and an estate in England if he would surrender his nation state unreservedly to the King of England. From his home, Garth Celyn, Llywelyn wrote his response, a total refusal of the offer and a clear statement of his duty towards his inheritance. Within a month, on the instructions of Edward Longshanks, he was murdered. Edward s army closed the net and captured the royal court. On 22nd June 1283, Prince Dafydd ap Gruffudd, heir to the Principality, was captured, his hiding place betrayed. After the Conquest the name Garth Celyn was eliminated from the record books. The settlement Aber Garth Celyn adjacent to the royal home became officially known by the English conquerors simply as Aber, Estuary with its identity removed; later more descriptively as Aber Gwyn Gregyn, Estuary of the White Shells. Flag of the Princes