Blogs

Literature Wales has named award-winning Pembrokeshire novelist Eloise Williams as its first Children's Laureate. Ms Williams 

https://www.literaturewales.org/lw-news/eloise-williams-named-first-childrens-laureate-wales/

Her latest novel, Wilde , will be available May 2020, from Firefly Press . You can find out more about her and her books on her very fun-looking website at http://www.eloisewilliams.com/

We are delighted to offer Alwyn 'Taffy' Parry's new book 'A Brush With Love, Life and Laughter' to our readers. The book is available for free download here:- A Brush With Life & Laughter

The book is the story of a boy growing up in Wales during the 1940's and is illustrated throughout with the authors' paintings.

Alwyn told AmeriCymru that, with so many older folk in lockdown, the book might inspire them to record their own family history. We thought this was a wonderful offer and would like to take this opportunity to thank Alwyn for his example and his generosity. It is also a superb (and productive) idea for passing the time during the lockdown. 

For fans of Alwyn's work there is also an interview with the author and a review of his earlier title 'The Quarryman's Son' here:- From Wales To New Zealand

Enjoy / Mwynhewch

Golwg article. Translation by Gwenno Dafydd. Read the article yn Cymraeg here .

The efforts to encourage people to sing ‘Hen Wales fy Nhadau’ (Land of my Fathers – Welsh National Anthem)  to thank not only the NHS, but also everyone who has played their part in fighting the Coronavirus was ‘a huge success’ according to Gwenno Dafydd, one of the organisers of the ‘Sing for Wales’ project. (Editor – And our very own Americymru Saint David’s Day World Ambassador)

She talked to golwg 360 after seeing that videos of people who sang on Monday night (April the 13th) had arrived in the Facebook ‘Sing for Wales’ group as far away as Jamaica, America, South Africa, Australia, Cambodia, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Spain.  

And the Facebook group ‘Sing for Wales’ has attracted more than 120,000 members in a very short time. 
 
After seeing a Facebook message by Sarah Evans from Gwent, just a few hours after Sarah established the group on March the 29th, Gwenno Dafydd was inspired to join the campaign, and they are both now two out of the five organisers, who include Scott Evans, Sarah’s husband, Plaid Cymru Councillor Rhys Mills and song writer Gavin Clifton

“On the Friday before this I was out on the pavement myself singing the anthem to thank the people working for National Health System (NHS)”, said the performer, author and public speaking coach to golwg 360.

“On the following Sunday, I saw that someone called Sarah Evans had established the group ‘Sing for Wales’ and I thought ‘Wow!’.

“She wanted to sing to thank everyone who had been supporting us during this time. So I contacted her and offered to help. 

“It was a huge honour to lead the singing during this really special event and to be one of the five very hard working and active members of the organising Steering Committee,” said a message at the bottom of a video on Youtube.

“I would like to thank Rhys Mills, Gavin Clifton, Scott Evans but especially Sarah Evans who had the idea, and also latterly the BBC and Wynne Evans for their support, and of course, lastly and more important than anything, thanks to over 120,000 (hashtag)Welshies and (hashtag)WorldwideWelshies for their support for the group. We made an amazing team!”

Teaching people to enunciate the words

Having been responsible in the past for helping to create an Iphone App to help people learn how to enunciate the Welsh National Anthem, Gwenno Dafydd – author of ‘Stand up and Sock it to them Sister. Funny Feisty Females’, a book about female stand-up comics, decided to take advantage of the resources she had from the time of the App.

“Although the app is no longer available, I still had the resources and one of those was a video of me clearly enunciating the words with sub-titles of the words beneath”.

“I offered these to Sarah, and I said I would also record myself singing and she could put these up on the group, and that’s what happened.”

Radio Cymru and Radio Wales backing the campaign

Apart from this, she has also been helping to raise the profile of the campaign by being responsible for drawing the attention of the media, including Radio Cymru and Radio Wales, who both broadcast the anthem live at eight o clock on the Monday night.  

“I got in touch with Radio Cymru and spoke to Rhuanedd Richards, Head of Radio Cymru, a few days before the event and told her what was happening, and at that time the BBC really came fully ‘on board’.

“We  needed to get a backing track that everyone could use  and the two most important  issues, in my opinion, was to put it up on the group so that people could have a practice before the event, and the other issue was that we needed to have a ‘lead in’, so that we had an introduction.

“I was in discussion with Gareth Iwan Jones at the BBC Radio Cymru Music Department and we decided together that we would use a track of  Morriston Orpheus Male Voice Choir singing and that’s what happened. Then Wynne Evans also made a video of himself in his kitchen teaching people how to sing the anthem, which proved popular

“Between everything, it came together just like that really, truth be known.”

Raising awareness of a medical condition

And Sarah Evans had an even better reason for setting up the campaign – by seeing an opportunity to raise awareness of her son’s very rare condition. 

“Sarah and Scott have two children and the eldest, Harri, has a very rare condition called Williams Syndrome and Rhys Mills, as their local Plaid Cymru councillor has been very supportive to them with his condition.

“Sarah was very keen to raise awareness of this condition whilst running this campaign."

All the Steering Committee have various connections,  and one of the groups I contacted was ‘Corona’ (Welsh medium Facebook group dedicated to singing – with over 40,000 members)  and we had people from the four corners of the world literally contacting us. 

“Although some people were too shy to record themselves, they did sing the anthem to thank all those who had been looking after us during this worrying time, not only those in the NHS but also those who work in the supermarkets, garages, cross country lorry drivers, refuse workers, those who have lost their businesses, children who stayed at home…….”

‘ Worth the effort’

“To those people who were not in the front line, that was Sarah’s intention, and that’s what I liked, was that we were doing something small to thank everyone for doing their bit.”

“Although I worked day and night on this for two weeks (as did all the others in the Steering Committee) I think it was worth the effort. 

Article by Alun Rhys Chivers. Translation by Gwenno Dafydd.
 
Additional information

Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/557557901860425/

Twitter https://twitter.com/SingWales

The group will be singing for Wales once again at 8.00pm Monday 4th May. Whether we are singing because we will celebrate coming out of lockdown or because we need to knuckle down again. We will sing! 

Please retweet!!!!

‘Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau’ (Land Of My Fathers) Reaches 4 Corners Of The World - group will be sing for Wales again 8.00pm Monday 4th May. https://t.co/6kKRV069Yw pic.twitter.com/OTSIwM6byR

— americymru (@americymru) April 21, 2020

Captain Tom for Prime Minister 

or Health Secretary if that 

particular promotion isn’t available

or anyone else really instead 

of the current cumbersome incumbents

this embodiment of unpreparedness

these foggers of obfuscation

the economy

wealth versus lives 

the workforce dwindling

for the ghost gig

the leadership inadvertently solves

the crisis in social care 

through neglect and amnesia

maybe that's how the prisons will go too

no relations but expensive

to the taxpayer

the elderly and the guilty

captive audiences

sitting ducks

but the baby was saved

the robots wait in the wings with 

virtual mass graves for virtual funerals

and there's an unexpected reprieve for the environment

some good comes from every evil

some light in each darkness

(the Chinese revise the Wuhan death toll upwards by 50% 

people are not as malleable as data

but when they’re gone they’re gone

and become data though the poets 

try to breathe fire into that clay)

Norman Hunter

a Leeds United great 

plague victim

bites your legs

glory glory

the Health and Social Care Secretary 

offers care workers a badge

yes a badge

a fogging badge

a sticking plaster on a disaster

does it get any better than this? 

(no, not much but we have each other

and the air we gratefully breathe

and the baby that was saved)

ground control to Captain Tom

ground control to Captain Tom

For context / ar gyfer cyd-destun ( as though it were necessary) 

Coronavirus: Capt Tom Moore's NHS fundraiser hits £17m

Our Hero ©R.K.Jones2193

In this time of a global pandemic
Can we take the time to thank a man, most heroic?
A man, whose name you hear everywhere you go
A man by the name of, Captain Tom Moore

Captain Tom as he is known, is a war veteran
He is also almost a centurion
A man who knows, of the horrors of war
We can only imagine the things that he saw

But this incredible man
Put all this behind him, and he hatched a plan
His aim, a hundred laps of his garden to walk around!
Before his 100th birthday, to raise a thousand pounds

A thousand pounds, which he would have called a success
To donate to the brave and glorious NHS
But what this man has achieved
Has to be seen to be believed

Not in his wildest dreams
Would Captain Tom imagine what his gesture would mean
People took him to their hearts
And his fundraising effort, people willingly took part

Soon, a thousand pounds was increased tenfold
As the stories of his heroics in the media were told
And soon the figures reached a million, and even more
And the nation was all celebrating Captain Tom Moore

At ninety-nine years of age
He is dominating the newspapers front page
The hearts of our nation, he has won
As he has turned his mission, into a phenomenon

A mission of mercy, for all to see
He is now deservedly, an A-list celebrity
And all this , with a smile on his face
And our NHS, is now in a far better place

So, let us all salute Captain Tom Moore
Our hero, who has raised millions galore
A man, who in these darkest of days
Looked this virus in the eye and led the way

Showing the spirit that that we all need right now
The spirit that Captain Tom, is showing us how
This man, our hero, so humble, so brave
To our NHS it's more than money that he gave

In his bravery, he has given us hope, a reason to smile
A reason to fight, and is doing it in style
With his medals proudly worn over his left breast
Medals awarded for his military quests

Is there room for one medal more?
For the incredible Captain Tom Moore
Although he may tell you it is not done for glory
But in years to come, shall we ever forget his story

A hundred laps of his garden, all for a good cause
And all because!
He wanted to give something to charity
Heroes like this, we seldomly see?

Now his self-imposed challenge, is over and done
But the adulation of our hero has only just begun
The champion of our nation, that must truly be understood
If there is any justice or compassion, he must receive a Knighthood.

My plan is to curate a documentary covering the electronic music scene in Wales during the 1980’s and 1990’s. The aim is to focus on contextualising the era in relation to the music coming out during the period and to understand the how, when and why of it all. By extension, we hope to explore the identity held by the people of Wales during the 1980/1990’s all the way through to today’s notions.

Having played some of the music out in Bristol, and knowing that many of the global underground DJ’s have recently taken an interest in our bit of the world I wanted to give the music and the people behind it their deserved screen time. I also want to look at the way it's being perceived today by listeners outside of Wales, and to better understand this search for ‘the exotic’ in the underground music scene today.

However, to make this the best documentary it possibly can be we need the stories of those who were there to experience it all. This goes full circle, from artist to label to booker to listener. We need to hear the stories from everyone involved at the time. In addition, we are desperately trying to get hold of the vinyl / cassettes / CD’s from the era for use in the documentary. So if you or anyone you know might have some of the listed releases please get in contact. 

Here's the list of relevant releases for people to look through: Cerddoriaeth Electronig Cymraeg

Please contact   kiernanabb@gmail.com

Sunbathers on beaches in a lockdown

and a new type of offensiveness is born 

one that is inflamed by citizens doing 

what was ordinary two weeks ago 

but is now essentially criminal

and under scrutiny

some of the land's private wealth 

is revealed in the news of owners 

caught visiting their second homes

among them those extraordinary beings

who are our well-funded leaders

exhorting us mere plebeians

to stay at home protect the NHS save lives

the dual-edged maxims of governance

the mantras we do not all follow

do as I say not as I do

our two tier society

where did we lose our country?

Dunkirk is invoked for the ten thousandth time

while in Russia a medic assassinates 

five noisy neighbours

our inessential travel and inessential purchases

are sex workers on a furlough?

grim economic data arrives early

a power vacuum awaits

give me gilded horseshit

I’ll be happy with it

but won't bet on it

fear Easter when the sun shines

and we all want to come out and play

in the changed reality

the substituted stage set

the overloaded crucifixes

but fear more greatly an Easter

that doesn't rise in judgement

on its ritual structures

Build up herd immunity

selves as cattle

livestock locked down

in slaughterhouse towns

stay home 

protect the NHS 

and save lives

protect and survive

taking back control

the language of our various crises

the slogans of our desperate times

the litany of avoidable lunacy

an opportunity to inform on those

who veer from the restrictions 

of the pandemic's regime of new laws 

with new rules to learn

the requested change of behaviour

of travel and purchase patterns

the twitching net curtains

betraying an increased interest 

in the essential comings and goings

of one’s dear neighbours

funny how we find our true place

when we’re all in this together

and there's no let up from spam

its faceless operators still having

to steal a living as thousands die

may these gangster spamsters

be eaten alive by their hamsters

as other life forms colonise

the polluted human settlements

and the air is cleansed again

there’ll never be a Spring

quite like this one

until the next time

the lemming army of hoarders

is marching over the cliff edge

of dried teats and no deals

with their gluttonous supermarket trolleys

and who’s profiteering from 

Personal Protection Equipment

ventilators and medication?

who actually is in charge

of the looting the delays

and the half-heartedness?

my grandmothers could have done better

they were not hampered

by feelings of entitlement

but knew from real life drama

what urgency demanded

where to start in Ravi Shankar’s back catalogue

now I've got the time?

pandemonium reigns

now wash your hands

there’ll never be a Spring

quite like this one

until the next time