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Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2009, David Western --

This week I'm continuing my work on the back face of the Left Coast Eisteddfod spoon with more work on the vines and some shaping of the maple leaf and the star.

Before committing to the knives, I am careful to mark the overlaps with a pencil. I also want to draw the path of the vine across the leaf and star so that I can remember to carve it later! Because I want the dragon's tail to be uninterrupted on the front face, I didn't bother with too much over/under where the vines merge into the celtic knot. If I wasn't so interested in keeping the flow of the tail, I could have overlapped these a bit more but it would have broken things up a bit.

With the lines penciled out, I use my small straight knife held also in a pencil grip to scribe the lines to a depth of approximately 1/16th of an inch. This keeps the sides of the vines pretty vertical, marks out the path of the vines and gives me a line to start cutting against when I start lowering the leaf and the star.

In this picture I have begun cutting down the leaf using the straight cut along the vine as both a guide and stopping point. With my leaves, I resist the urge to really thin them down as my spoons are generally subjected to regular handling and an excessively thin leave becomes a breaking hazard. I try to achieve the illusion the spoon is thin by tapering toward the edges, but I still leave enough thickness that the leaf can handle rough treatment. When the spoon is viewed from the front or back, the leaf will look pretty thin and 'flowing', but when viewed from the side it will be apparant that it is a bit more substantial.

If I knew the spoon wouldn't be touched, I would thin foliage details to the very minimum. However, handling these spoons is part of their pleasure, so sometimes a little aesthetic sacrifice has to occur for the guarantee of security!

With the leaf, star and vines roughed out, I can begin to define things a bit. The vines start getting rounded over and the leaf will get a bit of texturing as it is thinned out. I'm rounding each leg of the star a bit to give it a softer feel than the more 'sheriff's badge' look the front face has and to give the back of the spoon a more organic feel.

This picture shows the 'organic' section of the spoon nearly completed. Once the rest of the spoon is complete, I'll return to this area for a final touch-up and to do some last minute shaping and sanding of the rounded edges on the vines. I hope that you have been enjoying this little blog and that following the creation of this spoon will encourage you to donate to the Left Coast Eisteddfod. It's easy to do and might win you this spoon!

What a warm welcome! Thank you to all. Has been a busy few days but have managed to find my way around here and think I fit in Just had gifts from family back home which has made me a little sad but also smile. Best thing - A Cardiff CIty home and away strip for my two year old!! Love it!! Thankfully his dad also managed to get photos of him in front of Ninian park before we left.........its going to be really strange to go this red row houses on the grange end!! So........am looking forward to getting to know you all better, news from the home land and links to events/activies in the US - like having the best of both worlds x

The Queen arrives at Milford Haven, Wales.Morriston Orpheus Choir had the privilege of performing for the British and Qatar Royal families in Pembrokeshire, West Wales on Tuesday 12 May 2009. The Choir was chosen to represent Wales at the official inauguration of the South Hook LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) facility at Milford Haven which was attended by Her Majesty The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duke of York. Also attending were members of the Qatari royal family - His Highness the Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Her Highness Sheikh Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned and Her Highness Sheikh Hind Bint Hamad Al-Thani. The event on 12 May sealed the completion of the operation to provide a fifth of the UK s gas supply from Milford Haven.This was a major day for Qatar, the United Kingdom and Wales as the cleanest of the fossil fuels Liquefied Natural Gas has a bright future said Clive Williams spokesman for the Morriston Orpheus Choir. For the occasion the Choir learned a new song by Dom Jones that celebrates completion of the LNG Terminal project. This song was the finale of the entertainment for the Royal guests for whom the Orpheus also sang Well Keep A Welcome directed by Joy Amman Davies.The Morriston Orpheus entertained Her Majesty The Queen on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee celebrations outside Buckingham Palace in 2002, and has appeared on a tribute CD to mark the Golden Jubilee.South Hook is the largest LNG terminal in Europe and this event has served as a happy reminder of the Morriston Orpheus Choirs visits to the Middle East including Dubai and Oman. Also taking part was the noted Welsh soprano Gwawr Edwards.Joy Amman Davies, the artistic director of the choir, was jubilant today after being presented to the Queen during her official visit to the terminal. Later, she met the royals again as she took her place in a farewell lineout as both royal parties were leaving the event. She then had a brief comic encounter with Prince Philip as he was leaving."He asked me who I was, and I said I conducted the choir," said Joy, who wore a sophisticated black evening dress for the occasion."He said to me, 'Turn round', and when I did, he said 'Now I recognise you from the back of your head'."She added: "He did make me laugh, I think he's great. He has got a real sense of humour and is a lovely man."

In the days before central heating every house in the Rhondda utilised coal on open fires. The result of this heating method led to vast quantities of ash residue. This was deposited in metal bins and placed on the roadside of the valley streets in order to be collected by men employed by the local council for that purpose. These employees were called dustmen or ashmen and like all men who find themselves performing a job generally avoided by the majority of the population they developed a particular camaraderie. Crucial to this camaraderie was a tendency to develop a black but good natured humour.The crew who worked each tender comprised six men - each with their own distinct personalities. During the summer of 1982 I worked with one crew when I did some temporary summer work and I remember them well. The driver was Tom Mathias. He was a quiet man abstemious in his ways who absolutely refused to swear under any circumstances. He also had an all weather hatred of religion, the Tory party and alcohol. His best friend was Emrys Davies. This came as a surprise to everyone as Emrys had a tendency to swear at every opportunity often inserting swear words in between swear words to get greater effect. He was also a life long member of the Labour party but had a grasp of politics that bordered on the remedial. He was also passionate about cricket.Other members of the crew included Billy Thomas and Rex Jones. Thomas entire life outside of work revolved around the local Conservative club. He was known as Apple and he wasnt in the least bit political or a conservative but he had a deep love of rough cider - the cheapest and worst of which was to be found in the club of his choice. Then there was Rex Jones whose nickname was The King. Rex was a divorced man who could start a fight at a hundred yards because he had no social skills whatsoever and absolutely no sense of danger.The remaining two of the crew were James Pumford Lloyd known as The Lord because he had a demeanour coupled with a well groomed moustache that would have singled him out as a member of the aristocracy had it not been for his council overalls. Finally there was Gordon Collier. Collier was a trade unionist first and last and a man of immense self importance and a master of the obvious who felt the need to educate the great unwashed at every opportunity. He would often sidle up to someone and say, in tones that indicated that he was passing on vital life changing information, that its always best to wear a coat in the rain lest one gets wet.Each day these men would start work at seven AM sharp. Their working routes were far and wide taking in hills and bends, dips and stretches and the occasional tump. Climbing into the cab with them one could sense an air of familiarity. There in the corner was Billy Thomas with breath like petrol fumes complaining about his ex wife. Gordon Collier had lit his first pipe of the day and was quietly contemplating the finer points of the TUC annual report. Emrys was listening intently to Billy Thomas interjecting from time to time with several choice expletives that placed the ex Mrs Thomas squarely in the camp of Lucrezia Borgia. Pumford was busily rolling up a fag and Mathias had pulled out a transistor radio tuned in to Radio 3 which was broadcasting Mozarts Don Giovanni. It was surreal.As I appeared at the cab door Rex Jones said Look out boys. The hired help has arrived. Hes come to teach the old dogs new tricks. Gordon looked up. He told me in the most profound manner to take no notice of the banter as it was well known that the king was suffering from a hernia brought on by attempting to lift too many ball droppers. Ball droppers? I enquired. Thats right said Rex. Ball droppers is ash bins that appens when someone leaves the lid off and it rains. The bastards are heavy enough to lift when dry - let alone when wet. Its like liftin 15 stones of concrete. Dont try it or youll be walking on your balls. This was the start of a memorable three months.Looking back it seems that not a day passed without some incident or other that raised a smile. I remember the day we picked up a foxs tail and a large bed warmer. These things are innocuous enough in themselves but when utilised by the crew it resulted in Gordon Collier being taken to hospital for suspected concussion. You see, Gordon had a tendency to walk about in deep thought; he would thrust his hands into his pockets drop his head and cogitate. On this particular day Billy Thomas had decided to play a prank. He had wrapped a piece of wire around the end of the foxs tail and made a tight hook at the other end of the wire. This he delicately attached to the back of Gordons overall trousers as he was walking about contemplating God knows what. The rest of the crew were now presented with the sight of Gordon sucking on his pipe, his flat cap tilted forward walking around with a foxs tail majestically wagging in the breeze. Billy, now determined to capitalise on the obvious mirth he had given us, picked up the bed warmer and started to walk behind Gordon fanning the thing up and down as if to bang him on the head. This was exactly what he did when Gordon stopped unexpectedly. He was knocked senseless and taken to hospital tail intact.If it wasnt for the fact that Gordon was out cold and couldnt be revived we could have laughed until we keeled over. He did revive however and was uncordial to all talk of bed warmers thereafter.On another occasion we were in the throes of being thoroughly pissed off in a week of drizzle and had no time for the niceties of thought. Anything in our path short of babies were thrown into the back of the lorry. Somewhere near Volunteer Street in Pentre we picked up chunks of metal that simply stood in our way. I mean how were we to know that it was an engine ready to be put back into a car? A similar fate went for a suitcase full of clothes placed on a doorstep waiting for a taxi driver. Howard Pipe the foreman in Ystrad Yard was distracted beyond all understanding whilst Bacon Nuts McNullty his boss was considering murder. It all blew over however because of some obscure bye-law that allowed for the cleansing of detritus of and off streets in the opinion of the collector.The most incredible incident took place however, when a local hard case by the name of Dai Thump took it upon himself to throw Emrys in the back of the ash cart. Thumps missus was a well known finger pointer who enjoyed nothing more than proving her husbands love by watching his reaction to spurious tales of other mens affections. On this particular day, Emrys was the object of her ire. Emrys was lifted into the air and thrown into a place that had very large mechanical teeth that would have chewed him to pieces if it hadnt been for the quick eye of Jim Pumford Lloyd. Lloyd stopped the chewer by swiftly throwing the manual overdrive at the back of the lorry. It was then that Tom Mathias revealed a talent for boxing that no one had suspected. Tom calmly stepped down from the cab, removed his glasses and placed them in his top pocket. He then delivered a swift array of punches that left Dai Thump in no doubt that he had overstepped the mark.After three months of these adventures I was relocated to the local cemetery where a whole new series of strange behaviour was observed. I was to be a grass cutter in attendance to eight or more grave diggers. If I thought that disposing of human rubbish was an eye opener the best was yet to come.

Geoff Brookes is the author of ' Stories In Welsh Stone' , a remarkable book which brings together fifteen grisly tales of murder and betrayal as revealed on the gravestones of various Welsh country churches. As the author says:-" These gravestones are not just curiosities. They represent past lives and tell stories we should not forget. We owe it to those involved to remember what happened." Americymru: We note from your profile page on Americymru that you live in Swansea. Care to tell us a little about the city for our American readers? Geoff: Swansea is officially Britains wettest city. What more do you need to know? It is more than enough for me! Swansea is the second city of Wales and there are about 250,000 of us here, about 40 miles west of Cardiff. It is a place with a long history. The Romans came here and it was the Vikings who gave the place its name, which was originally Sweynesse, a reference to the king of Denmark, Sweyn Forkbeard. The city sits on a fantastic bay that stretches right round from the docks in a gentle curve to the Mumbles lighthouse. It can be a lovely place. The people are loyal, friendly and inquisitive. For me it is where West Wales begins. The English language predominates although Welsh can be heard everywhere. The industries of the past, the copper and the ste el, have gone. Now the city tries to promote its undoubted attractions as a tourist destination. With the decline in the industries the environment has improved beyond recognition, with better water and beach quality. Indeed there is now a small but thriving surfing culture amongst the younger generation. We now have a smart marina full of smart boats and surrounded by smart accommodation. Swansea is the birthplace of Dylan Thomas, Catherine Zeta Jones, my wife Liz and my son David. Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins were born not far away. From Swansea you can access the Gower peninsular. It is green and beautiful, with isolated bays and cliffs. It can be very busy in the summer with so many visitors. Better to go down in the winter when it is peaceful and untouched and place can feel like your very own secret. The only down side? The weather. It is generally mild and you can determine the season of the year by the temperature of the rain. It rains most in October and least in May. But it rains. I have lived here since 1981 and I still havent learned to accept it. Americymru: You are the Deputy Head of Cefn Hengoed Community School. What exactly is a Community School? What is its place in the overall educational system in Wales? Geoff: I was appointed Deputy Head teacher of Cefn Hengoed Com prehensive School in January 1991 so I have been there for quite a while. It is a school which inspires a great deal of affection in those who work and learn there. It serves a disadvantaged area on the eastside of the river Tawe and we teach all the children in the area between the ages of 11 and 16. As well as being Deputy Head I also teach a handful of lessons. My subject is Eng lish. It always has been, ever since I started teaching in 1973. We are designated a community school because we are open outside normal hours and our buildings are used by other parts of our local community. There are evening classes for adults, there is a family centre where young mothers can meet, and there is a leisure centre which provides sporting and leisure opportunities. There is always plenty going on throughout the day. Of course our core business remains teaching and learning for our 700 young people. We have a reputation as a caring and forward-looking school. W e are successful at what we do, even though we are housed in crumbling and inadequate buildings. Some regard us as a tough school because we deal with issues associated with social disadvantage and troubled young people. But I have been fortunate to find a place where I feel I belong and where I can make a contribution. It means a lot. Americymru: How did you become involved in your 'Stories in Welsh Stone' project? What provided the initial inspiration for the series? Geoff: It is quite simple really. I have always enjoyed writing an d especially the process of taking detail and shaping it into something coherent and engagin g. This has always given me great satisfaction. I have been lucky because m y w orking life as an English teacher has often focused upon writing and telling stories. It has always been very important to me. I started writing articles for journals and newspapers about educational is sues. After all, I have been a teacher for 36 years so far and like a lot of teachers I have plenty to say about it. But I realised that I wanted to step outside that enclosed world and write about different thing s. A colleague told me about the Murder Stone in Neath, South Wal e s . It is quite notorious. Local children are still frightened by it, but I had never hear d of it. I went to see it and I was amazed. I had never seen anything like it before in my life. I just had to find out more and then I wanted to tell the story of what I had found. Also I wanted to pay proper respect to Margaret Williams. Now she is part of a curiosity. But once she was a real person and I think we owe it to her to try and remember her as a person who came to such a horrible end. Her story is a gripping one and still leaves unanswered and intriguing questions. In the course of my research other stories emerged that also needed to be told. The words on every headstone hint at the life of the person beneath. I believe it is our duty to remember these stories and my duty to tell them. That is what my book is a collection of real-life sto ries. I have lived in Wales since 1981 but I am still, to some extent, an outsider (I was born in Sheffield in South Yorkshire). As a result the unknown and private history of Wales fascinates me. So that first visit to Cadoxton church was a turning point. Americymru: How do you find the subjects for your stories? Does a typical story begin with a visit to a graveyard or with research into local newspaper archives? Geoff: A good question. I suppose there are two ways in which I find a story to pursue. In most cases, like Sara Hughes or Louisa Maud Evans (their stories feature in the May and July editions of Welsh Country Magazine) I find a story in old newspapers and then set out to find the grave. I really need a gravestone. That is what makes the person and the story real. Sometimes it isnt easy. It can be painstaking work in the long wet grass, but there is a real sense of achievement when you find a headstone that has been hidden or ov erlooked for so long. The stories need to be brought out into the light. So there is research and then there is work in the cemeteries. Harold Lowe, an officer who survived the sinking of the Titanic, would be another good example. His story was easy to put together. The grave was more of a challenge! I have looked a big events like the Titanic but I have always tried to focus on individuals and what happened to them. I have been working on the wreck of The Royal Charter in 1859 and written about the role the local vicar played in the aftermath. For this story we went to Anglesey and explored a number of other tales that the research uncovered. In some cases though, I find a grave that seems really interesting whilst I am looking for something else. For example, we went to see a 2000 year old yew tree and found the grave of John Price from 1826. His story appears on Page 50 of Volume One. This grave is crumbling away but it is notable because not only does it carry his name, but also the name of the man who killed him during a long-running family feud. Such discoveries however can be very frustrating. The grave can look interesting but there might not be enough for a full story. We went to Cathays Cemetery in Cardiff and, as well as finding Louisa Maud Evans, we also found the grave of Major Jacques Theodore Paul Marie Vaillant de Guelis, who died in a car accident in 1945. He worked under-cover in occupied France during the war. I am sure his grave hides a fascinating and dramatic story but I havent been able to find out much so far. I think I shall have to put a page on my website where I can store all such scraps and see if anyone else out there has any additional information! Americymru: How important is it, in your view, that we remember these tales of past lives? Do we learn anything from history? Geoff: The stories ope n a window on the past and generally what we see are real lives. They might be Stories in Welsh Stone but really the Welsh part is irrelevant. That is merely where the graves are. The stories are about people. They could be anywhere. Their ordinary lives are suddenly defined by extra-ordinary events, usually not of their own choosing. Look at Joseph Butler, shot by a poacher who fled to Ohio (page 100). He was doing his job and suddenly found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or Adeline Coquelin, Napoleons niece, drowned in a shipwreck off South Wales (page 60). The victim of a random and unpredictable event. All our lives are fragile and sometimes our luck runs out. What the stories tell us is that the fundamentals of human experience dont change a great deal. It is humbling to remind ourselves that however sophisticated we think we are, our ancestors, wherever they were, faced the same problems as us. Americymru: Of all the stories you have done, which one do you regard as your favorite? Geoff: It is hard to say which one is my favourite story. I have a lot of affection for the story of poor Arthur Linton, possibly the first sportsman to die of performance enhancing drugs (page 136). He was world champion cyclist in 1894 and he died rather suddenly two years later. His trainer, who carried a bag of drugs with him everywhere, was the wonderfully named Choppy Warburton. I suppose the truth is that my favourite story is the one that comes after the one I am writing. I am always desperate to start that story! So I have been finishing off a long piece about the wreck of The Royal Charter steam clipper in 1859 but I am eager to start writing about two little girls who were accidentally killed by a servant in Caernarvon in 1844. And when I am close to finishing that one iwill be very keen to move on to the next. Americymru: In the preface to your book you give thanks to "...Kath and Ian at Welsh Country magazine who have made this book happen." How did your creative relationship with the magazine come about? Geoff: A turkey played a key part in the development of our relationship. How many others can say that? I had written about the Cadoxton murder stone because I wanted to find out more about it. Then I tried to find someone to publish it. I had no success at all. When you become more experienced as a writer you realise that is completely the wrong way round of doing things but I was nave. It was December 2004 and we ordered our Christmas turkey from an organic farm in North Wales. It arrived and with it came a complementary copy of the first issue of Welsh Country Magazi ne. I liked what I saw and immediately sent off my piece via email, more in hope than expectation I have to say and received a reply almost straight away. I imagine I sent them the right thing at the right time. The story appeared in March 2005 and I have written for every edition since then. I enjoy it very much and we have established a creative and co-operative relationship. They are genuine and honest people who want to create a quality, readable and interesting magazine about Wales and I think they are succeeding. The faith they have shown in the book is fantastic. I want the book to succeed because I believe in the material but also because of the commitment they have shown to my writing. When they said they wanted to publish it I had no idea that they were committed to such high production values for the book. I was stunned when I first saw it because it is so beautiful. Americymru: How can our American readers obtain a copy of the book? Geoff: The ISBN number is 978-0-95587350-8. The best and most reliable way of getting a copy, especially if you are outside the UK, is to order one directly from Welsh Country Magazine. Here is their website address www.welshcountry.co.uk . They will send you a signed copy if that is what you would like. Ian Mole is the commercial manager of Welsh Country and you can contact him on the Americymru site too. If you want a particular dedication then all you need to do is to contact me and I will sort it out. You can contact me on this site or you can use the contacts page on my own website, where there is lots of additional information. The link is storiesinwelshstone.co.uk . You should have no worries about using Welsh Country. They are entirely reliable and trustworthy. If you do have any difficulties then let me know and I will sort them out! I know where they live There is a new stor y in every edition of Welsh Country Magazine. Volume One contains 15 stories, so me of which originally appeared in the magazine, although in the book they contain more information, since there is no restriction on space. There are, however, other stories which have not, and will not, appear in the magazine like Mary Morgan. What a tragic story that one is. Volume Two will have the same format and the others that will come later. It will a long time before I run out of material. Americymru: How soon can we expect to see a 'Stories in Welsh Stone: Part 2'? Geoff: Ah yes, the old Volume Two question! Ive have completed my bit for Volume Two. That means the stories are written but it has yet to be designed or produced. We have to sell enough copies of the first book to allow us to move on. Volume Three is intended to collect together the stories behind 15 military graves. I have written 13 of these so far and they stretch across the whole of Welsh history. There are a number of women in the book too, it isnt just soldiers. So I need a couple more chapters and that book is finished too. Volume Four is already underway. I like the stories in Volume Two very much. I think it is a better book. I have spread the net wider than just the nineteenth century and it includes some of the oldest graves we have found. Theres the story of a stowaway who ended up in the Antarctic and the original pirate of the Caribbean. And there is the Titanic and the cholera cemetery in Tredegar I enjoyed putting it together very much. Volumes Two Three and Four? They will look really good, all together on your bookshelves. To be honest I love it! There is so much fascinating material out there and I want to capture and preserve it. You might find it hard to believe but I havent earned a cent from the book so far. We havent yet covered the production costs. But that is largely unimportant. It is not what it is about. After all have a proper day job that pays me well enough. Believe me or not, thats up to you. But there is a heritage in Wales that is slipping away. We cant leave it to another generation or it will be lost forever. Americymru: Are you involved in any other writing projects at the moment? Geoff: Since Stories in Welsh Stone was published in November 2008 my other writing projects have taken a back seat. The other books I have written have been about educational issues, like a guide to the poetry of Gillian Clarke and Seamus Heaney or about the role of a deputy head. There are details of these books on my website. I still write for journals and newspapers on education, but Stories in Welsh Stone has rather taken over my life and willingly so. We have four children. Three girls and a boy. When David was diagnosed with dyspraxia (or Developmental Co-ordination Difficulties) I was determined to find out more about the condition. As a result I have written three books about it. I have now been offered the opportunity to write another book on dyspraxia but I dont think I will be able to fit it in. I maintain three blogs too about the work connected to Stories in Welsh Stone. One appears on this website, Americymru, one is featured on the Welsh Country website and the other is on my own website www.storiesinwelshstone.co.uk/blog . I also stick copies of some of the material on My Space and on Sagazone. There are so many stories I am anxious to share the story of Siwan, Crawshay Bailey, the Welsh settlement in Patagonia, a floating workhouse called the Clio, a murder in Llanblethian, a poisoning in Laleston. Oh yes there is plenty to keep me busy. Americymru: Any other message for the readers and members of americymru? Geoff: There is one message for us all I think. The next project, the next thing, drives all of us forward. But dont forget the past. The stories of real people can tell us so much. The small acts, of love or heroism or compassion, are the things that bind us all together. We must never forget them, either in our own lives or in the lives of our ancestors. After all, it has always been the past that has shaped today. Part of my degree at University was History. But it was political history. The great moments, the big decisions. But never at any point did we engage with the experience of real people. And we should. We all should. If any of you out there on this lovely website want to ask me any other questions then I will be very happy to answer them. And you can contact me on my own website at any time if you prefer. Thanks for reading all this. I hope you have found it interesting. And thanks too to Ceri for giving me this opportunity. It must be a tough job running a social network like this when there are strange people like us out there in cyberwales! Interview by Ceri Shaw Email

Help To Support Ieuan The Lion Memorial Fund When You Shop and Search OnlineDuring Ieuans latter months we vowed that no other family would suffer the uncertainty of not being able to treat a condition because of no diagnosis and agreed that when the results came from the post-mortem we would dedicate our lives to raising funds in Ieuans name for the condition that had robbed him of his life. However that was not to be there were still no answers. We have therefore set up the fund to help those who helped Ieuan when the doctors couldnt. To them we shall be eternally grateful .We have named the fund Ieuan the Lion purely due to Ieuans love of lions and to represent the amazing, unmeasurable amount of courage that he showed. He had the strength and heart of a LION.The idea of the fund is to raise money through the year and divide it up into the five charities that helped Ieuan in his life being, LATCH ( helps children with cancer and life threatening illnesses) , TY-HAFAN CHILDRENS HOSPICE (provides respite care for sick and terminally ill children and end of life care) HCPT GROUP (takes 10 disabled children each year to Lourdes in France for a weeks respite), CHRISTIAN LEWIS (provides holidays for the children and their families in these very stressful times of illness AND GREAT ORMOND STREET (is where a lot of our sick children from South Wales go for specialised treatment). All the monies raised will be donated to these charities each year around Ieuans Birthday Anniversary on 4th March.We have teamed up with fundraising website easyfundraising and Id like to ask whether you would consider supporting us by using this fantastic new site.The way it works is simple. All you have to do is use the links provided on the easyfundraising site - http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/ieuan - whenever you shop online and, at no extra cost to you, well receive a free donation of up to 15% from every purchase you make!You still shop as normal and there are over 600 well known retailers to shop with, including Argos, NEXT, Amazon, Debenhams, John Lewis, Boots, ToysRUs, M&S and many more. Best of all, easyfundraising is completely free to use and it doesnt cost you a penny extra to raise funds for us when you shop online using this innovative fundraising service.You can book holidays and flights, make DIY purchases, buy books, CDs, DVDs, gifts or flowers. Theres an extensive clothing & fashion section, sports & outdoors, broadband, insurance, motoring, mobile phones, electrical items and lots more. You can even raise funds by making business purchases such as computer equipment from DELL, PC World, Apple or HP or stationery from Staples and Viking.Raise funds when you search the webYou can also support us by searching online with easysearch, a new charity search engine where Ieuan The Lion Memorial Fund will raise funds when you search the web. Use easysearch instead of Google or any other search engine and you could raise around 20 a year by searching just 10 times a day.And, just like easyfundraising, easysearch is completely free for you to use!Whats more, easysearch is a super search engine which tracks down the most relevant and accurate results from several search engines - Yahoo!, Windows Live Search, Ask.com and many more. This means you'll find what you're looking for quickly and easily every time - in one easy search.Please support us by shopping online with easyfundraising http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/ieuan and searching the web with easysearch http://ieuan.easysearch.org.uk May God Bless You All.

Americymru: Who are the members of ' Ghost of a Dog' ?

Matthew: Ghost of a Dog are Tamzin Powell: Main Vocals, Ukulele, Matt Powell: Guitar, backing vocals Tracy Neil Elliss-Brookes: Guitar, backing vocals Jonathan Attree: Bass Marc Aird: Drums

Americymru: How did the band come to be formed?

Matthew: We initially got together with a few friends whilst we were still part of the Welsh folk band called Wild Welsh Women, and Ghost of a Dog was a side project in a more of a singer songwriter vein, exploring our love of American artists such as Joni Mitchell, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Crosby Stills Nash & Young etc. This project soon gained momentum and eventually became the main focus after Wild Welsh Women took an extended break after releasing and touring the second album Death of the Kings Canary.

After a few line-up changes, we eventually arrived at our current line-up with Jonathan (Attree), who was also in Wild Welsh Women, plus singer/songwriter Tracy Neil Ellis-Brookes (or Neil for short) and Scottish exile Marc Aird on drums.

Americymru: On your profile page on this site you say:- "A bit of cross cultural stuff going on here - we're a band from Wales playing Americana/Alt-Country/folk material (self penned)". What attracted you to Alt. Country and Americana? Any particular artist?

Matthew: Its something that myself (Matt) and Tamzin have been into for many years, probably before we got seriously interested in Welsh traditional music, and was triggered by the less heavy side of bands like Led Zeppelin which led onto an appreciation of Joni Mitchell and Neil Young etc. We have also love the fact that lyrically, Americana has been more liberating than traditional music, which tends to draw heavily on the past nothing wrong with that of course we still have a great affection for traditional music and its still a strong influence for us - but Alt-country and Americana music combined with lyrics which are written about our local surroundings in Wales and the West country, create a more interesting mix (for us anyway!)

The US artists that got us into in the Americana field are vast and varied but include Ryan Adams & Whiskeytown, Calexico, Shawn Colvin, and also the classic artists like Emmylou, Gram Parsons and Joni Mitchell etc.

Americymru: Alternative Country seems to be very popular in the UK at the moment. Bands like Richmond Fontaine and others seem to find a ready audience. Can you think of any particular reason for this?

Matthew: Yes and particularly in Wales for some reason, where we have lots of new Americana clubs and Alt-country nights popping up around the area. It could be down to the need for something other than the mass media Pop Idol/American Idol type crap that gets forced down our throats 24/7 these days, plus the fact that its such a wide open genre, taking in everything from Woody Guthrie to the Decemberists (who we love BTW) so theres something for everybody in there and its a genre which is constantly re-inventing itself.

Americymru: Most of your material is self-penned. Who does the song-writing?

Matthew: This album was mostly written by myself & Tamzin, but were starting to write new stuff with Neil now which is quite exciting for us as weve not co-written with a 3rd party for a few years. Theres also one track on the album by a good friend of ours called Chris Reese, who also plays lap-steel and slide on a few of the tracks.

Americymru: What is the story behind 'Full Moon Crime Spree' ( this track can be heard on the bands Americymru homepage )?

Matthew: Its a bit of a fairytale/horror/if only type story and its about a werewolf who has a sense of morality. Basically, every full moon he prowls the streets of Cardiff looking for criminals and unsavoury ASBOs, (people with an Antisocial Behaviour Orders), and deals them their just deserts by ripping their throats out a bit brutal, but very effective in reducing the citys crime rate! Its a comment on the frustration felt by many crime victims and was triggered by a story I read in the news about the crime rate increasing whenever there is a full moon, so we thought wed twist the story a little and introduce an antidote to the problem.

Americymru: Any plans or ambitions to play in the States in the future?

Matthew: Wed love to tour in the States in the near future there are no firm plans yet but its definitely something that wed all love to do Any offers, let us know!!

Americymru: Where can people go to hear you play and buy your music?

Matthew: At present weve been mainly UK based, mainly in Wales and around the borders, although we do the occasional gig in France and are hoping to play more extensively in Europe over the next year keep an eye on our myspace page for up to date gig listings www.myspace.com/ghostofadoguk .

The album is available to buy directly from us for UK based buyers and through CDbaby for North American sales, plus via Itunes, Napster, Lala, Tradebit and Didiom plus shortly via Amazon.

Americymru: What are your future recording and performance plans at the moment?

Matthew: Weve started writing in preparation for the next album and were talking to several record companies about licensing Full Moon Crime Spree, who will hopefully get involved in the next album also.

Performance wise, our plans are to hit the festival circuit next year, plus some European dates and hopefully a tour in the States, when we get some sound contacts.

Americymru: Any further message for the members and readers of "Americymru" .

Matthew: Its fantastic that Wales and Welsh culture continues to flourish across the globe, there is a great pride amongst the Welsh in Wales and around the world at present, especially amongst the younger generations. Its a real sense of clan and identity and whenever we are playing abroad and were asked are you English? the answer is 2No were Welsh and these days, people actually know the difference!

Interview by Ceri Shaw Email

Tourist Attractions in Carmarthenshire Tourist Attractions in Pembrokeshire

They say that near Ferryside in Carmarthenshire there is the thirteenth century village of St. Ishmael, But it is rarely seen. That is because it is submerged in the bay.It isnt clear why it disappeared. West Wales was a remote place and news didnt often travel very far. Often the news never made the leap from Welsh into English. Often it was never written down. There is certainly no record of what happened. The local people say that it was swamped by an enormous tidal wave caused by a volcanic eruption in the Bristol Channel but here is no evidence to support this.These days the ruins are rarely exposed, especially since they have diminished over time. Local farmers have on occasion helped themselves to the stone to build up their walls when it has emerged from the sea.Of course the wind and the tide continue to do their work.Some say that it isnt a village at all. They say that the stonework that is sometimes exposed is part of an elaborate fish weir, built to trap fish for Whitland Abbey. It fell into disuse when it became silted up. This makes sense too.The parish of St Ishmael lies on the estuary of the River Towy and this might give a clue what might have happened. A catastrophic storm of some kind could have re-arranged the shoreline. Certainly the tides constantly change the landscape. The shifting sands of Cefn Sidan, which is always reshaping itself, are never still. Maps drawn at different times throughout history show a changing shoreline. Maps of the estuary where three rivers the Gwendraeth, the Taf and the Towy - flow into the sea have never been much more than an approximation.The church of St Ishmael is still there, built upon higher ground, and the main railway line to London rushes along next to estuary whilst the stones rest quietly and mysteriously alongside.It is a perfect example of hidden history. There are still untold and undiscovered stories from the past wherever we look. It is our job sometimes just to move aside the clinging sands that obscure them so that we can see more clearly.