Blogs

A 10-year-old student at the Stagecoach Theatre Arts School in Carmarthen is making a name for herself with big name model shoots in London.
Grayce Davis, from Pembroke Dock, has just completed a shoot for the Marks and Spencers new school range of clothes.
The shoot comes hot on the heels of Grayce being featured in the new Emma Bunton fashion range in the current Argos catalogue.
Its been something of a mad whirl of events and photo-shoots in recent weeks, Grayces mum, Vanessa, admitted.
But its been great fun. Grayce is very grounded and a very level-headed young girl and while she loves all the big name photo-shoots she doesnt get too carried away with it all.
Every weekend, we seem to have some event to attend in London. Its hard work, but Grayce thoroughly enjoys it and she has had the chance to meet and work with some very talented people.
Stagecoach Theatre Arts Carmarthen Principal Liane Davies said she was delighted at Grayces success.
She added: We are proud of all our pupils and their achievements, but Grayce is setting the bar very high with being successful for a number of very high profile photo-shoots.
Hopefully, the training she has received at Stagecoach in Carmarthen stands her in good stead. She is obviously a very photogenic young lady and she happily takes on all the hard work involved in major photo-shoots.
Grayce was in the news last year when she played the lead role (Olivia) in a music video for jazz singer Aimua Eghobamien's new song Tis what it is.
Her mum Vanessa said: She loved that experience and quite happily embraces all the hard graft and dedication that goes side by side with modelling and acting work.

The event will be known as the Evan-Evans Llandeilo Jazz Festival and will take place from July 6-8.
The event will be based on four of the towns pubs and is designed to be a free music festival, starting on the Friday night and finishing in the late afternoon on the Sunday.
Evan-Evans Brewery Chief Executive Simon Buckley said: As a company, we have for a long time wanted to promote a series of music events in our brewery town of Llandeilo.
We have teamed up with the local pubs to create a group of high quality venues to launch this fantastic new jazz festival.
Having been involved with the Brecon Jazz Fringe for the last four years, we were delighted that our idea for a Llandeilo Jazz Festival was so warmly embraced.
There will be a mix of classic Trad Jazz, Gypsy and Rag Time Jazz.
On the Sunday, we hope to have a massive picnic in Penlan Park, where young musicians from the town and surrounding area can come and play.
We are currently finalising the line-up and will be launching a new web site and Festival Facebook page.
We hope this will be the beginning of something that will, in time, rival some of the other bigger jazz festivals in Wales.
We encourage young musicians from all over Carmarthenshire to visit the website in the next two weeks and come and join the street music scene.
I am convinced that Llandeilo Jazz Festival will be a great event, and people will come from all over Wales to be one of the first to support this new event.
Weblink:
http://www.evanevansbrewery.com/
Photo above: Mike Harries Root Doctors performing at another Evan-Evans-sponsored jazz concert.

Smashing picture story in the Llanelli Star - Llanelli Rotary Club award Paul Harris Fellowship to rugby legend Derek Quinnell.
Nice story about the junior open golf tournament at The Ashburnham golf club in the Llanelli Star today.
Splendid picture story in the Llanelli Star about Llanelli Rotary Club giving a Paul Harris Fellowship to Angela Saunders (Stradey Park Hotel).
Review of Handel's Messiah in the Llanelli Star following performance by 'Three Choirs' including Llanelli's Cor Baroc.
Nice piece in the Llanelli Star today about Cor Meibion Llanelli wining praise from the Mayor of the London Borough of Richmond.
Smashing spotlight in the South Wales Evening Post on movie star Michael Sheen helping the Healing The Wounds Welsh PTSD charity.
Nice story in the Carmarthen Journal about Stagecoach Theatre Arts in Carmarthen expanding to cope with demand with new afternoon classes.
The latest 'View from Richmond Park' Carmarthen Town AFC column is in the Carmarthen Journal today.
The latest 'Business Brief' legal column from QualitySolictors Redkite is in the Carmarthen Journal today.
The new weekly gardening column by Aberglasney's Joseph Atkin is in the Carmarthen Journal today.

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Follow the whole nine yards here (a 95 part series) :- Half Marathon Blog

Why I am running:- West Coast Eisteddfod Bryn Seion Church

For details of how to sponsor see this post

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Well....I ran for 15 minutes again today and I was a lot more comfortable with it than last time. Also I have found a new training circuit which is ideal for my purposes. Basically I am running laps around some community gardens down the road from where we live. There is almost never anyone present when I run and the repetitive nature of the circuits suit my training style just fine. Running once around the turnips takes about 3 minutes so all I have to do is keep upping the number of laps and multiply by three to chart my progress.

That's the good news The bad news is that I have not completely given up smoking yet and I am having a very hard time doing so. I read the following on the way2quit.com website: -

• Smokers need to work harder than non-smokers doing the same activity. That means you cannot train as long as you might want when smoking. Also, your quality of training may suffer.
• Smoking has an immediate effect on respiration by increasing airway resistance and therefore reducing the amount of oxygen absorbed into the blood.
• Smokers produce more phlegm and are more likely to develop a chronic cough than non-smokers. As phlegm builds up in the airways it make breathing
  more difficult.

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I am well aware that continued smoking will slow me down and may utterly defeat my purpose in the long run. Does anyone have any advice to offer on removing this obstacle? Would electronic cigarettes help? Seems likely that they would not affect performance anywhere near as much, if at all.

Meanwhile just to end on an upbeat note...we have confirmed the venue for the West Coast Eisteddfod ( one of the causes I am running for ) and paid the refundable deposit. You can find out more about that over on Gaabi's blog here . Look out for many more exciting announcements in the weeks and months to come.

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We have confirmed the venue for the 2012 West Coast Eisteddfod. It will be held at the Multnomah Arts Center in Portland on Saturday October 13th. We will be posting full details of the program as soon as it is finalized but meanwhile anyone interested in the Story-telling, Poetry or Comedy competitions should contact americymru@gmail.com for more details asap. At the moment the WCE is planned as a one day event with satellite events at other locations but thus may change as our plans evolve. Keep checking back for further details and enjoy the pictures below.

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The Courtyard/Vendors area at The Multnomah Arts Center

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The main auditorium from the stage at the Multnomah Arts Center.

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A view of the stage at the Multnomah Arts Center.

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The Lucky Labrador Pub opposite the Arts Center may prove to be a useful watering hole for WCE attendees although beer and wine will be available at the event.

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Here's is the latest, the Green Bridge in Pembrokeshire. To anyone who knows the coast the mistake here is probably obvious. This is the view looking south, but the water is on the wrong side, on the left rather than the right. The reason? I forgot to flip the picture before i started drawing and cutting it. I'd like to have a walk up that coastline, though I understand there's a firing range nearby.

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Follow the whole nine yards here (a 95 part series) :- Half Marathon Blog

Why I am running:- West Coast Eisteddfod Bryn Seion Church

For details of how to sponsor see this post

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How to address the vexed question of running gear? It is perhaps only a vexed question for me because I am a cheapskate. In the past I have only ever run in t-shirt, daps and jeans. The very same t-shirt, daps and jeans that I would in all probability, be wearing to the pub afterwards.

My researches indicate that a pair of men's running Capri's can cost anywhere between 50 and 100 dollars . Now I'm sure that these pants have advantages in so far as they are lighter than jeans and better adapted to the temperatures you are likely to be running in. But do they make all that much of a difference? I can't see how they would.

There are also many kinds of running headgear ( most of which resemble baseball caps ) with cool visors etc attached. Wouldn't you keep cooler if you didn't wear a hat at all?

I am convinced of the need for a cheap plastic wristwatch. The kind you pick up for a dollar with a 24 hour guarantee. That way you can look at your wrist from time to time and assess the duration of your remaining torment.

I also believe in the efficacy of knee supports. They can help absorb shock and keep you feeling comfortable and pain free over a longer distance.

Other than that........well of course an AmeriCymru t-shirt

Does anyone have any advice on the subject of running attire? Clearly I have a somewhat 'punk' attitude to the whole subject but I'm willing to listen to reason.

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The Cowards Tale by Vanessa Gebbie

In an unnamed Welsh town (modeled on Twynyrodyn, Methyr Tydfil) close by the Kindly Light coal mine, a host of town characters has each their stories and their secrets. The life of the town is ever influenced by the tragedy at the Kindly Light 3 generations ago when an explosion cost the lives of many miners. That explosion sets the stage for the experiences of 3 generations of town folk. Amnong them is the beggar Ianto Jenkins, called Passchendaele, a joke to mark him as a coward (he wouldn't have lasted 5 minuets at Passhendaele). The stories of the town are told through the voice of the Ianto, as requested by the folk who line up at the cinema near to the steps of the abandoned chapel where Ianto lives on the bench and steps. The novel is full of warmth and sympathy for characters who live with the sins of their fathers and grandfathers, the loss of grandfathers in the Kindly Light, the traits passed down through generations. The Kindly Light is closed, the colliers all adrift now. Ianto survived that deadly mine explosion and sees himself as a coward for it. But he understands the life of the town better than any for knowing himself.

There is Baker Bowen, a chiropodist whose grandfather was once a baker. Philip "Factual" Philips, the librarian; the undertaker Simon "Tutt" Bevans who only walks in straight lines; Nathan Barthlomew the piano tuner whose grandmother went mad with grief; James Little the gas meter reader whose father was a thief; Thaddeus "Icarus" Evans, the woodworking teacher who has spent a life trying to carve a perfect feather out of wood; land many others whose intertwined tales are told by the beggar Ianto. All of them stilled touched by the Kindly Light tragedy.

The Cowards Tale invites comparison to other story cycles about small towns. There is Thorton Wilder's Our Town, Dylan Thomas's Under Milkwood, Sherwood Andersons Winesburg Ohio. Each in a way emphasizes the little stories of individuals as the strands of a town's story. The Cowards Tale stands out for the warmth that is shown to each character, and the careful delineation of the core traits and character. All invite our sympathy and care. In the townsfolk of today there is a modernity, as they each go about their lives in the present. But through the eyes and mind of Ianto Jenkins those who listen to his stories can come to see how the past has never left them. They little know how generations past have made them what they are.

As a moving evocation of a present-day Welsh town tied, somewhat unknowingly, to its past, this first novel by Vanessa Gibbie, is well worth a reading. Each character is worth caring about, each description both direct and poetic. Written in a straightforward yet lyrical fashion, Gibbie has devised a novel that stands comparision to some of our classics.

Follow the whole nine yards here (a 95 part series) :- Half Marathon Blog

Why I am running:- West Coast Eisteddfod Bryn Seion Church

For details of how to sponsor see this post

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No Welsh blog on the subject of running would be complete without a reference to the Nos Galan . It may not be seasonal or topical but this series ends on July 4th so the Easter weekend is as good a time as any to write about it.

This is not an endurance event. It is run over 5KM ( 3.1 miles ) on New Years Eve in the town center of Mountain Ash/Aberpennar in South Wales. The winners are recorded ( by age group ) on the Nos Galan website here:- 2011 winners . At the time of writing it has not been updated with details of the 2012 event but here are the 2011 home and latest news pages which together with the rest of the site give a flavor of this unique event.

The run is held annually to celebrate the life and achievements of Welsh runner Guto Nyth Bran . I leave it to the children of Malpas Church Junior School to record his story and legendary exploits.

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And here is a video of the post race firework display in 2010. It is dedicated thusly:- "For those who couldn't make it and those who were too drunk to see it." Sounds like it was a good night.

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Meanwhile for those who are following my own shambolic progress toward the finishing line on July 4th I am pleased and proud to report that I managed to run for 15 mins today ( a total of one and a half miles approx ) Not a huge athletic achievement but a step in the right direction nonetheless. Only 11 and a half more miles to go.

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Caption competition with no prizes, any ideas for this tourist scene at the Golden Gate bridge SF?