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Absent But Not Forgotten is an ongoing collaborative art project between west Wales artists, Kathryn Campbell Dodd and Jacob Whittaker.

Belief in the paranormal can be controversial; but there is a strong human desire to find pattern and meaning in the unexplained. Absent But Not Forgotten uses video and sound experiments, textiles, furniture and technical objects to evoke the world of ghost hunting through site-specific installations. The project considers the associations, clichs and influences of TV and films on the phenomenon.

Exploring the aesthetic language of ghost hunting, paranormal documentary and horror film, the work questions the urge towards paranormal interpretations for uncanny or unexplainable phenomena and makes parallels between the obsessive nature of processing the data from paranormal experiments and the artists creative process.

Be our guest, Oriel Davies, Newtown.
29 June 2013 - 04 September 2013

Who is this who is coming takes as a starting point the idea of the haunted B&B; many such establishments are rumoured to have a resident ghost and indeed, it is often a selling point to prospective visitors.

This new installation references the classic 1968 television play Whistle and Ill Come to You directed by Jonathan Miller from the original ghost story written by MR James in 1904. It features the breakfast scene in a guest house whereby an empirically minded Cambridge Professor declares his scepticism regarding the supernatural but later comes to find himself prey to a terrifying otherworldly force.
The plays simple but haunting treatment conjures an atmospheric cautionary tale which warns against the rigidity of fixed academic opinions as the professor illustrates with his self-satisfied corruption of Shakespeares quotation from Hamlet, There are more things in philosophy than are dreamt of in heaven and earth*

* There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Hamlet (1.5.166-7)

The LoCooker team from Llanelli featured on the BBC Radio Wales Louise Elliott show.

Born this day 1842 in Cwmafan, Glamorgan 

William "Mabon" Abraham, trade unionist and Liberal/Labour politician.  The monthly miners holiday " Mabon's Day", secured in 1888, was named after him when he was successful in securing more leisure time for miners.

Abraham was a moderate voice believing that disputes should be solved through dialogue. Abraham was noted for his powerful speaking voice and was a renowned orator.  He started working at the local coal mine as a 'door boy' at the age of ten and in 1864 he accepted an invitation along with other miners, to work in a copper mine in Chile.  however when they arrived, there was no work so Abraham worked his passage back to Britain. 

He then became known as a singer and poet, taking the name Gwilym Mabon.  In 1871, he formed a Union at the Caergynnydd Pit and by 1885 he was the leader of the largest union of the South Wales Coalfields.  He then entered politics becoming the Liberal – Labour MP for the new Rhondda constituency in 1885 and in 1898 he was one of the chief negotiators on behalf of the colliers in the Welsh coal strike of 1898, which resulted in the creation of the South Wales Miners Federation (The Fed) of which Abraham became president.   

The Falklands War ended this day 1982

The Falklands War was a 1982 war between Argentina and the United Kingdom, that resulted from a dispute over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It  began on Friday 2 April 1982 when Argentine forces invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands and South Georgia.  The British government dispatched a naval task force to retake the islands, with the resulting conflict ending with the Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982, During the conflict, 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel and 3 Falkland Islanders died.

Some Welsh connections;

*  Lieutenant Colonel H. Jones (his mother Olwen Pritchard, was Welsh) the commanding officer of 2 Para was killed at the head of his battalion while charging into the well-prepared Argentine positions. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.

*  During the build up to an offensive against Stanley, the resulting confusion of an uncoordinated advance to the disembarkation point of Bluff Cove had left the Welsh Guards on the landing ships RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Tristan, as sitting targets in Port Pleasant without defence escorts for almost 2 days.  They became subject to Argentine air assaults which killed 32 of them and left 150 suffering burns and other injuries, including Simon Weston.  The disaster provided the world with some of the most sobering images of the war as Navy helicopters hovered in thick smoke trying to winch survivors to safety.  

Born this day 1949 in the Rhonnda 

Alan Evans, professional darts of the 1970’s and 80’s 

In 1972, he reached the final of the News of the World Championship, the first event to be shown on UK television.  Then in 1975, he won the Winmau World Masters, one of the most prestigious titles in darts before the World Championship began in 1978.  When the Darts World Cup began in 1977, the Welsh team of Alan Evans, Leighton Rees and David "Rocky" Jones won the Team Championship and Overall Championship.

Within the darts world, he is remembered for his 3 bullseye's (150) finish, which is often  referred to by commentator Sid Waddell as the "Alan Evans Shot" (three bullseyes)  

Born this day 1950 in Ystradgynlais

Rowan Williams, 104th Archbishop of Canterbury.,

* As Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of Wales, e was the first Archbishop of Canterbury, since the reformation, not to be appointed from within the Church of England

* Apart from Welsh, he speaks or reads nine other languages.

* On 26 December 2012 Williams was created Baron Williams of Oystermouth,

* He was criticised for allegedly supporting a pagan organisation, the Welsh Gorsedd of Bards, which promotes Welsh language and literature and uses druidic ceremonial but is actually not religious in nature.

* Williams officiated at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton on 29 April 2011.

* On 16 November 2011, Williams attended a special service at Westminster Abbey celebrating the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible.

* He was delivering a lecture in New York at the time of 11 September 2001 attacks, only yards from Ground Zero.

* His attendance at the funeral of Pope John Paul II, made him the first Archbishop of Canterbury to attend a Pope's funeral since the Protestant Reformation.  

Born this day 1726 in Whitford, Flintshire 

Thomas Pennant, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian.

Pennant travelled widely throughout Britain, especially Scotland with his servant Moses Griffiths, recording and writing books about the geography and wildlife he encountered, whilst Moses made paintings and engravings.  Pennant also amassed a considerable collection of art, which was largely selected for their scientific interest.  It is now housed at the National Library of Wales.  

  On 14th June 1645 Charles I was defeated by the Cromwell's New Model Army at the battle of Naseby.    In the aftermath, King Charles and the remnants of the royalist force came to Wales to raise support from his supporters in Wales and particularly in Monmouthshire with the Herberts.   He visited  Abergavenny and held his Court in the Priory House spending some 6 months in the area.  

Charles eventually surrendered to the Scots in 1646 who promptly handed him over to the English.  He was brought to trial in Westminster Hall before 135 Judges but he refused to recognise the legality of the Court.  He did not plead and was found guilty by 68 votes to 67.  Sentence of death was passed and on 30th January 1649, he was beheaded on a scaffold outside the Banqueting Hall in Whitehall. 

American Farmers- Welsh Hill Farming Experience

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The tour itinerary is exactly the same as the Welsh Hill Farming Experience; the tour is specifically arranged for our farming links & organisations based in North America. Arrangements can also be made for our guests to participate in the ameriCymru trail in conjunction with the Hill Farming Experience.

  Born this day 1934 in Hengoed, Rhymney Valley

Grenfell "Gren" Jones MBE , who was one of Wales’s best-known and longest-serving newspaper cartoonists.  Through his career, he produced an annual rugby calendar and also drew the cover for the Max Boyce album “We All Had Doctors’ Papers” and resultantly became  the first cartoonist to receive a gold disc.   He was voted best provincial cartoonist in Britain in 1983, 1985, 1986, and 1987.   

Executed this day 1483 at Pontefract Castle in West Yorkshire. 

Sir Thomas Vaughan , who was a Welsh statesman and Vaughan was accompanying Edward V and his brother Richard (The Princes in the Tower) from Ludlow to London when the party was intercepted by the future King Richard, who seized the boys and had Vaughan arrested and executed.

He was initially a Lancastrian supporter of Jasper Tudor and King Henry VI, but after Henry's defeat at Saint Albans in 1461 Vaughan sailed for Ireland with Henry's treasury, but was captured by French pirates, from whom he was surprisingly ransomed by Edward IV, after which Vaughan was loyal to Edward IV, who soon came to trust Vaughan and placed him in high offices. 

The story of Gordon Bennett's attempt to reach the North Pole in a tiny ship, built in a Welsh dockyard, is one of great courage and endurance.

The exclamation of surprise "Gordon Bennett" is named after him.

The 19th and early 20th centuries were a time of exploration and discovery,  pushing back the restrictions of the known world.  Exploration ships such as Discovery and Terra Nova are well known, but there were many, such as The Pandora, which  was launched from Pembroke Dockyard in 1861 and was used for a series of voyages to the Arctic in 1875 and 1876,   Then in 1877  she was sold to the rich and eccentric New York newspaper magnate Gordon Bennett. Who renamed her Jeanette and sent her on a trip to the North Pole through the Baring Strait, Under the command of Lt Commander George De Long in 1879.  Disaster struck when she became caught in the ice and For 18 months drifted northwards closer and closer to the pole.  During this time however they discovered and claimed the new islands of  Jeanette, Henrietta and Bennett for the United States.

On the morning of 13 June 1881, pressure of the ice began to crush the ship's hull, which split and the ship disappeared under the ice.  De Long and his men had to trek over the ice to the Siberian coast, pulling their supplies in the long boats they had rescued, behind them.  It was a hard and brutal journey but, just as they thought they had reached open water. they ran into a storm and one of the boats capsized and eight crewmen were drowned. The other two boats were separated in the gale.  In De Long's boat, sick in body and despairing in their hearts, the men died one after the other, De Long amongst them. Only two of the sailors managed to eventually reach safety.  In the other boat, Eleven men survived the elements to make it home.

Born this day 1910 in Quebec (his mother was Welsh)

Thomas Firbank author, farmer, soldier and engineer.

Following his father's death, he was raised among his mother's hill farming community in the Berwyn Mountains of North Wales.  His first book, an autobiography “I Bought a Mountain” became a major international best-seller. It describes how aged only 21, he bought Dyffryn Mymbyr farm, and painstakingly learnt how to farm, while portraying the beauty of Snowdonia. Firbank was a keen mountain walker, and the book includes a hair-raising account of how he and his two companions were possibly the first to ascend all of the Welsh 3000s, in less than 9 hours.  At the outbreak of World War II enlisted and saw action in North Africa, Italy and Arnhem, being awarded the Military Cross.

After his marriage ended, he generously gave his ex-wife Esme the farm in 1947, enabling her to remain there with her new partner. In 1967, she became an important founder member of the Snowdonia Society and after her death the farm was donated to the National Trust.  

On 13th June 1822, Sir William Lloyd (29 December 1782 – 16 May 1857) became one of the first Europeans to ascend a Himalayan peak.  

Born in Wrexham, the son of a banker, Lloyd went to school in Ruthin.  He joined the army of the East India Company in 1798, rising to the rank of major, before  journeying through the Himalayas, where single-handedly, he climbed the peak of Boorendo.  Lloyd was knighted in 1838 and retired to Bryn Estyn estate in Wrexham.

I'm currently exhibiting at the Cardigan Guildhall with Celf Canolbarth Cymru - here's a link to my work http://alexandrabruceart.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/first-exhibition-of-2013/

http://alexandrabruceart.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/first-exhibition-of-2013/

click here to see the work