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March the 1st is Saint Davids Day. Saint David, or Dewi as he is known in Wales, was canonized by Pope Callactus II in 1120AD and March 1st the date of his death, was added to the Church calendar as his feast day. It was said that two Pilgrimages to his Cathedral were equal to one to Rome and three equaled one to Jerusalem.
My memories of Saint Davids Day include the girls in their National Dress and us boys going to school with a Leek pinned to our clothes. A real, smelly Leek and sometimes there would be a prize for the largest Leek. Being young boys the Leeks didnt last. During the day we would all be nibbling away until, by the time we went home there would be nothing left except a sorry looking root.
All my memories of Saint Davids Day are happy ones, both as a child and as an adult where I could enjoy the day with my children. All, that is, except for 1979 when Wales rejected devolution by an overwhelming majority. That was heartbreaking for me. That was the occasion when one of my heroes, Neil Kinnock, betrayed his country, his party and the Welsh working class.
The saint Davids Day concert that my mother would never let me forget took place at the local Chapel. I was eight years old and stood in front of the audience to recite a poem. I do not remember what the poem was and I didnt remember it then. My mind went a sudden blank. So I improvised, I recited a rhyme my grandfather had taught me about a Beetle, a coal mine, father getting drunk and mother shouting. I bowed as I had been taught, the crowd erupted in delight and my mother and grandmother tried to sink into their seats denying all knowledge of me.
So who was Saint David? And why would the Welsh have a Leek as their national emblem?


The Welsh Saint who only drank water.
In the South West corner of Wales, stands the small city of Saint Davids. The Cathedral of Saint David stands on the grounds of the Monastery he founded. His father was Sandde, a son of Ceredig, King of Ceredigion. His mother was Non daughter of Lord Cynyr of Caer Goch. At the site of his birth is Capel Non, The Chapel of St Non near the city of St Davids. He was educated at the monastery of Hen Fynyw in the area of Whitland, Carmarthenshire. His educator was an old blind monk, Paulinus, who himself was to be canonized. He stayed there many years and then ventured forth as a missionary. Preaching Christianity to the pagan tribes, he founded churches all over Britain, including it is said, Glastonbury Abbey. At Glastonbury he donated a travelling altar containing a large sapphire. This was one of the items Henry VIII confiscated during the decommissioning of the Monasteries. Some say the sapphire is among the crown jewels today. He journeyed to Jerusalem and was ordained ArchBishop of Wales by the Patriarch of Alexandria. On his return it is said that one of the great miracles of his life occurred. A synod was called at Llanddewi Brefi to confirm his position as ArchBishop. A large congregation was in attendance and those at the back could not see or hear him. It is said that the ground rose up under him so that he stood on a mound for all to see and hear.
His philosophical contribution to Christianity lay in his opposition to the Pelagian heresy. In the 5th century a British Monk named Pelagius travelled to Rome and preached that perfection was possible for anyone, that salvation came from living a Christ-like life and that the atonement of Christ was only for the weak. He held that there was no Original Sin only Original Blessings This view became accepted by many high born Christian rigorists even though it was opposed by such persons as Saint Augustine who said that this doctrine denied the need for grace.
Dewi opposed this doctrine amongst the Welsh and chaired what became known as The Synod of Victory Where Pelagian views were put outside the official doctrine of the church in the British Isles.
Why, of all things, would he be remembered by a Leek?
During the 5th century the Germanic tribes of Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Danes invaded the island. To them the indigenous British were Wealeas A word that means Stranger or Foreigner. The word that today we know as Welsh and the Country is Wales. In those days Wales was anywhere the English were not. In fact for a long time Wales was anywhere north of Watling Street. Due to the time frame Dewi has sometimes been associated with Arthur of Welsh legend. The historical basis for Arthur probably lay in the Celtic warlord who was able to unite the tribes in opposition to the Saxon advance. The last of the great battles he fought was at Mons Badonicus near the ancient city of Bath, known in Welsh as Caer Fadon prior to the battle; Dewi had arrived to bless the army. It was mentioned to him that a mist was likely to rise over the battlefield and there would be difficulty distinguishing friend from foe. Dewi told them that on his way there he had seen a field of Leeks. He suggested that everyone should wear a Leek pinned to their clothes so they could recognize each other on the field of battle. This was done and the Welsh won a resounding victory. The Saxon advance was halted for a whole generation. It is said that Arthur, at that battle, Carried the Cross of our Lord for three days. No doubt this meant that he wore a cross on his clothes and it inspired a 9th century poet to prophesy of the Welsh; A lluman gln Dewi a ddyrchafant And they will raise the pure banner of Dewi
From that time forward, on March 1st, the anniversary of Saint Davids death, Welshmen everywhere wear a Leek on their clothes. So that wherever we may be, we can recognize a fellow countryman. Though these days, we grown-ups wear an imitation leek instead of the real thing.
The Saxon advance was not finally halted however and at the battle of Dyrham in 577AD the invaders won a decisive victory. The British were forced to surrender the prosperous cities of Bath, Gloucester and Cirencester. From this point on they were pushed further west into the regions of Cumbria (The Lake District) Cornwall and Wales where the language and culture still survive.

This was just on our evening news. Old news, but still of interest and encouraging to those of us trying to learn Cymraeg!Want to protect against the effects of Alzheimer's? Learn another language.That's the takeaway from recent brain research, which shows that bilingual people's brains function better and for longer after developing the disease.Here's the link to the full story: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/18/scitech/main20033422.shtml

Read more and see the video: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/northwestwales/hi/people_and_places/newsid_9402000/9402010.stm Besides being one of the busiest, local knowledge of the Holyhead area is vital to quick response to emergencies! Here's an excerpt:More than 200 people have turned out for a rally in Holyhead, Anglesey, to protest against plans to close the town's coastguard station.The proposals would see the UK's 18 coastguard stations reduced to eight to "modernise" the service.Speakers at the protest included the town's mayor, Anglesey MP Albert Owen, and union representatives who maintain the station is one of the UK's busiest.

One of north Wales' oldest women has celebrated her 109th birthday.
Enid Vaughan Williams had a party with her friends and family at Hafod Y Gest Nursing Home in Porthmadog, Gwynedd where she lives.

Read more and see the photos: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-12525468

One of the things that left a huge impression on me on my first trip to Wales was the evidence of the Blitz--how everything in Swansea Bay dates from the 1950s--what a reminder to those who were living at the time of the Blitz--it is there every day. We don't have anything like that in the US. It is difficult to imagine what it would be like to live with the daily reminder. I suppose it is somewhat like New Yorkers must feel now, after 9/11.This is some of the article--you can read the whole thing here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/waleshistory/2011/02/swansea_blitz_1941_70th_anniversary.html This past weekend marked the 70th anniversary of the Swansea Blitz. On 19 February 1941 the gentle calm of a quiet evening was smashed by the heavy and sustained bombing by the German Luftwaffe. The blitz lasted for three days.Up to 70 enemy aircraft dropped some 35,000 incendiaries and 800 high explosive bombs over the three-day period. The raging fires could be seen from the other side of the Bristol Channel in Devon.A total of 230 people were killed and more than 400 were injured, and the bombing changed the face of the city forever.The centre of Swansea was flattened in the blitz

This is from a cool site I recently came across somehow. (Link below.)

Author: Ruth Downie lives in the south of England, a region still shaped by the legacy of the Roman Empire. Her latest book is Caveat Emptor, the fourth in her series about a Roman Army doctor (Bloomsbury USA, 2010; to be published by Penguin UK, 2011 as Ruso and the River of Darkness).

Here's a bit off their website. They spotlight some really interesting books--not just Roman period, though:

Why a Politician Needs a Wife

Evidently Roman electioneers were not above a little sharp practice. Not only was voting carefully scrutinised, but when a shortage of suitable candidates was solved by publicly listing the names of all the eligible men, it was deemed necessary to stipulate that this must be done in such a manner that they can be read properly from ground level.

Less predictable, though, was the election tie-breaker. In the event of two candidates receiving the same number of votes, a married or engaged man took precedence over a bachelor. If that was no help, the issue was decided by counting each mans sons. The more sons, the better and, in a sad reflection of the times, there was also a system for calculating the worth of boys and girls who had died in childhood. Only after all this was taken into account did they resort to drawing lots.

They have three (3) copies of Caveat Emptor to giveaway. To enter, simply leave a comment on the post on their site (below). Sorry, they can only ship winning copies in the US at this time. They have frequent giveaways, but the best thing (since I haven't won one yet) is the books they highlight. I am adding to my must-read pile!

Would you like an email notification of other drawings? Sign up for their giveaway email list by clicking here http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2011/02/why-a-politician-needs-a-wife.html .

A new Welsh mystery book about to be published:

Received from Jonathan:

The Dead of Mametz, my first novel, is due for publication by Y Lolfa on 1st April 2011.

It is a crime novel set during the First World War and features a

A message from Paul Child:-

It's getting to be the time when I will have to select a new blog/site solution. I've been using Bandzoogle and WordPress in combination and I've not been completely happy with either one of them.

I tried using just Bandzoogle for a while, because they technically allow for just using the core site to post a blog. But I find it really inadequate as I've been a WordPress user for years. That's one of the reasons why it looks like I've only been blogging for a couple of months, when, in fact, I've been blogging for years. The Bandzoogle site erased all of the date information when I imported my past blog!

Not good.

It also doesn't display my posts the way I like. And although they've got some really great templates and allow for custom CSS, I've gotten really sick of code-monkeying. I have so many hats to wear with all of the marketing and PR I have to do right now, the graphic design element is a bit difficult for me. I'm using a template at the moment and I'm frankly not that happy with how crowded my site looks.

On the plus side, I have great mailing list tools with Bandzoogle. WordPress doesn't give me that. If I migrate over to WP entirely, I have to find yet another solution to manage that, and then there's an additional expense. It's not worth either the time or the money and I want a single solution.

And now to WordPress.

Ah, WordPress, WordPress. I have all of the same issues with you. To edit your CSS is just tiresome to me. And if I find a great template or theme, but it seems to me that everyone has a slightly different protocol as to how to comment things out--and what is up with your making me individually delete out manually every single iteration of the custom CSS I tweaked? Why did I have to do that just to get the theme to look the way you said it would in the Preview?

Even then it didn't, quite.

That's why I had to let my subscription to Custom CSS expire, you see. It was just a big ol' reset button for me.

So here I've been, jockeying back and forth between two sets of site stats, two URLs (three, really, because with my FB Fan Page it's become clear that I need to do some direct interaction in order to keep engaged with folks, but that's a whole nuther puddle of wax) just to keep things going--it's so very way not convenient to me. Me no like.

So I am ideally searching for a site host/blog solution that will give me the following things:

• Single-click postability from desktop, iPad , Android
• Single-click comment moderation from above sources
• Mailing list tools from above sources
• Web clipping to posts from above sources
• Post videos with sound and images from above sources
• E-commerce enabled
• Facebook /Twitter integration with Facebook "Like" button included
• Site stats including Google Analytics
• Allows for custom CSS
• Allows for Flash/FLEX integration
• Gives excellent massages

Okay, I guess that last one can be classified as a "nice to have". I'm sure there are quite a few providers out there that fit this bill perfectly!

Let me know in the comments how you think I should proceed. :-D

We are extremely pleased and proud to announce that Jack Bevil will be appearing and performing at this years West Coast Eisteddfod in September. Watch this space for further details.

In the meantime here is Part I of our three part interview with Jack originally posted in 2009 Master of The Crwth - Digon o Grwth Part (1)

And here is a selection of tracks originally uploaded to the site to coincide with the interview. Enjoy!