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September sees the third annual PENfro Book Festival held at Rhosygilwen and this year it will run over four days, with two evenings of events before the weekend starts.

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The town of Puerto Madryn in the province of Chubut in Argentine Patagonia was founded on July 28, 1865, when 150 Welsh immigrants arriving aboard the clipper Mimosa named the natural port Porth Madryn in honour of Sir Love Jones-Parry, whose estate in Wales was named "Madryn".

Towards the end of 1862, Captain Love Jones-Parry financed a trip, accompanied by Lewis Jones, to Patagonia to decide whether it was a suitable area for Welsh emigrants. Having first visited Buenos Aires for discussions with the Interior Minister, they headed south and reached Patagonia in a small ship named the Candelaria. An unexpected storm drove them into a bay which was later named "Porth Madryn". Jones-Parry and Lewis Jones gave a glowing report of the area, and in 1865, a group of 162 Welsh emigrants departed for Patagonia in the ship Mimosa.

The settlement flourished especially after the opening of the Central Chubut Railway, built by Welsh, Spanish, and Italian immigrants. The railway, opened in 1888, linked Porth Madryn to Trelew through the lower Chubut River valley.

Puerto Madryn now has about 58,000 inhabitants and is twinned with Nefyn on the Llŷn Peninsula.

Today is the feast day of Saint Samson

Born in 486, Samson was the grandson of Meurig ap Tewdrig, King of Glamorgan and Gwent. He was educated by St Illtud at the Abbey of Llanilltud Fawr, where he was ordained a deacon and then a priest, but he fell out with Illtud's nephews and decided to move to the monastery on Caldey Island, where he became abbot after the death of Saint Pyr, who was killed when he fell down a well while drunk. Samson, who abstained from alcohol, considerably reformed the discipline of the enclave.

He then travelled extensively while carrying out his missionary work; first to Ireland, where he is said to have founded or revived a monastery, then to Cornwall, where he was consecrated a Bishop and appointed an abbot, then to the Scilly Isles where one of the islands was named after him and finally to Brittany where he founded the monasteries at Dol (Brittany) and Pental (Normandy), and is said to have defeated a dragon on the banks of the Seine.  He is regarded as one of the foremost evangelizers of the era and has long been venerated with enthusiasm in Wales and Brittany. In the 930s King Aethelstan of England acquired a number of his relics - including an arm and his crozier and proudly displayed them in Milton Abbey in Dorset.

A short history of the potato, including its introduction to Wales;

The potato is now regarded as an essential component of the diet, providing starch, vitamin C, potassium as well as being an excellent source of fibre.  But that has not always been the case; at first they were treated with suspicion and considered to be of little nutritional value.

The potato is thought to have been first cultivated in the area between the south of Peru and the northeast of Bolivia over three thousand years ago, though scientists believe they may have grown wild in the region as long as 13,000 years ago.

1532   The Spanish conquistadors first encountered the potato when they noted that the Incas had learned to preserve the potato for storage by dehydrating and mashing potatoes into a substance called chuñu which could be stored  for up to 10 years.  As well as using the potato for food, the Incas also thought that they made childbirth easier and also used it to treat injuries. 

1570   The potato arrived in Spain, although they were regarded with suspicion, unfit for human consumption and used only as animal fodder 

1589 ( 28th July )   Sir Walter Raleigh is reputed to have been the first to bring the potato to Ireland and planted them at his Irish estate at Youghal, near Cork.  However in Ireland and the UK many Protestants would not plant potatoes, as they had no mention in the Bible and Catholics would only grow them if their seed potatoes were sprinkled with holy water and planted on a GoodFriday.  

1776   It was reported that potato cultivation was widespread at Milford Haven. Up until this date, the British diet had consisted primarily of dairy produce, bread and meat. Vegetables were seldom consumed, being regarded as worthless and even harmful.

1801 - 1851   England and Wales experienced an unprecedented population explosion, due to the Industrial Revolution, their combined population doubling to almost 18 million. High yielding, easily prepared potato crops were the obvious solution to resulting increase in demand for food, which also helped mitigate the effects of such diseases as measles, dysentery, scurvy and tuberculosis. The higher birth rates and lower mortality rates that potatoes encouraged led to a tremendous population increase.

1801- 1809   In the USA,  potatoes did not become widely accepted until they received an aristocratic seal of approval from Thomas Jefferson, the Welsh speaking President, who served them to guests at the White House. 

1845   The Irish Potato Famine.  The most dramatic example of the potato's potential to alter population patterns occurred in Ireland. By 1800, potatoes were the staple crop, and the population doubled by 1841. There was no introduction of industry or change in farming methods, simply the cultivation of the high-yielding potato. By the early 1840s, nearly half of the Irish population had become dependent on the potato. When the crop was blighted, many thousands starved.

1922   The growing of Pembrokeshire Earlies on a field scale began.

1945   After the Second World War, consequential market and political pressures resulted in an increase in the acreage of potatoes being grown in Pembrokeshire, the majority being sold to markets in the large population centres of South Wales and the Midlands.

1950's - 1970's  saw an increase in the growing of the early potato sector, with Pembrokeshire farmers selling the majority of early potatoes to markets in the Midlands and North of England to meet growing consumer demand.

1980's   Thirty Pembrokeshire growers came together to form a Potato Marketing Group which ensured that only potatoes of sufficient quality were supplied to market. 

1995   A potato processing plant was built in Pembrokeshire which to grade and prepare potatoes for the mass market.

The Pembrokeshire potato is a brand that is in strong demand; it is regarded as a quality product with a distinctive taste that is used by many top chefs and appears as a named ingredient on their menus. 

Pembrokeshire Earlies is the name given to immature potatoes of the solanum tuberosum species of the Solanaceae family. They are small in size because the potatoes are young when harvested. The potato is round or oval in shape with a soft skin and distinctive strong nutty flavour. It has a creamy texture and is a bright white colour. The first crop in May is sold with the soil still on in order to protect the soft skin of the potatoes. As the season progresses the skin hardens sufficiently to allow washing. Pembrokeshire Earlies are harvested from the beginning of May until the end of July, after which they are called main crop potatoes. There are particular skills associated with growing Pembrokeshire Earlies, with stones being left in the soil to aid warming. Hand picking is necessary to minimise damage during the first two weeks of the harvest when the potatoes are very soft. As the season progresses, the potatoes harden sufficiently to allow careful machine harvesting. 

It is the short growing time and the mild climate of Pembrokeshire generated by the North Atlantic Drift of The Gulf Stream, which helps keep the western coast of Great Britain a couple of degrees warmer than the eastern side. This minimises the risk of frosts damaging the emerged crop, enabling Pembrokeshire Earlies to be grown and harvested earlier than in most areas in the UK.

On 28th July 1481 a copy of the Great Bible was sent out to every church in Wales and England.

This was during the Protestant Reformation, when in 1534, Henry VIII had broken from the papal authority of Rome in a dispute over the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and declared himself head of the Protestant Church of England. This was followed by The Acts of Union, which commenced in 1536 and was an attempt to absorb Wales into England.  The issuing of the Great Bible, which was only printed in English, can, therefore, be seen as Henry's attempt to uniform and consolidate his rule throughout his kingdom. The first Welsh translation of the Bible was not printed until 1567, under the rule of Henry's daughter, Elizabeth I.

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On 28th July 2004, the University of Wales admitted four new institutions as full members of the university;

*  Glyndŵr University, formerly known as North East Wales Institute of Higher Education.

*  Swansea Institute of Higher Education, later known as Swansea Metropolitan University.

*  Trinity College, Carmarthen, later known as Trinity University College.

*  Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff.

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Born this day 1966 in Neath

Andy Legg - former Wales soccer international, who was known for having the longest throw-in in football, being able to regularly throw the ball over 30 metres and once held the world record with a distance of 44.6m

Early Welsh settlers in Patagonia.

On 27th July  1865, over 150 settlers from Wales arrived on The Mimosa, at Puerto Madryn in Southern Argentina, with the intention of establishing Y Wladfa (the Welsh Colony in Patagonia)

The notion of a Welsh colony in South America was proposed by Professor Michael D. Jones, a non-conformist preacher based in Bala, who had spent several years in the United States, where Welsh settlers had adapted to the new lifestyle very quickly. He advocated establishing a Welsh speaking colony, far from the influence of the English Language, in Patagonia. The destination was chosen for its isolation and the Argentines' offer of 100 square miles of land along the Chubut river.

The Mimosa sailed from Liverpool in May 1865 and after approximately eight weeks arrived at Puerto Madryn.  Unfortunately, the settlers found that Patagonia was not the fertile land they had been promised. They had been led to believe that it was similar to the fertile lowlands of Wales. In fact, it was a windswept pampas, with no water, very little source of food and no woodlands to provide building materials or shelter. Some of the settlers’ first homes were simply  dug out from the soft rock of the cliffs in the bay. At first, the colony looked as if it were doomed to failure. The settlers had to walk forty miles across the desert, pushing in wheelbarrows their meagre belongings and food, finally managing to reach the proposed site for the colony in the Chubut valley. It was here in 1865, where the river Camwy cuts through the desert from the nearby Andes, that the permanent settlement of Rawson was established. The settlers on The Mimosa included miners, carpenters, brickmakers, cobblers and tailors, but very few farmers. This proved to be a serious disadvantage, as the terrain was dry and dusty and it was difficult to grow crops.  Life for the settlers was made even more difficult by arguments over land ownership, bad harvests and floods. In addition, there was no direct route to the ocean to import necessities. Without the help of the Tehuelche Indians, who at first had been suspicious and unfriendly,  the settlement may not have survived the early food shortages.

Simple irrigation of the Chubut river was successful, and over the next several years new settlers arrived from both Wales and Pennsylvania. By the end of 1874, the settlement had a population of 270, with a patchwork of farms beginning to emerge. In 1875, the Welsh settlers were granted official title to the land by the Argentine Government, and this encouraged many more people to join the colony, with more than 500 arriving from Wales.  There were further migrations from Wales between 1880-87, and 1904-12.  The settlers had seemingly achieved their utopia with Welsh speaking chapels, schools and local government.

These now productive and fertile lands soon attracted settlers of other nationalities to Chubut, eroding its Welsh identity. By 1915, the population of Chubut numbered 20,000, with approximately half of these being from nationalities other than Welsh. Over the years, use of the Welsh language declined, and after 1914, there was little contact between Wales and Chubut. Change began to occur, however, when large numbers of Welsh people visited Patagonia in 1965 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the colony. There has recently been a co-ordinated attempt by the Argentine government and the National Assembly of Wales to promote and maintain Patagonia's Welsh heritage and identity. Teachers are being sent there to assist in keeping the language alive, eisteddfodau are being held, chapels are being supported and bara brith is being served in Welsh teahouses.  In 2006, sporting links were established when Wales played Argentina in a rugby international at Puerto Madryn.

On 27th July 1469, following the Battle of Edgcote Moor, near Banbury, during the Wars of the Roses, William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and his brother Richard were executed.

William Herbert had been the guardian of the young Henry Tudor, the future Henry VII, between the ages of 5 and 12.

Herbert, known as "Black William", was the son of William ap Thomas who founded Raglan Castle, and Gwladys ferch Dafydd Gam. He was, therefore, a grandson of Dafydd Gam, who had been a loyal follower of King Henry V of England. Herbert was a Yorkist supporter in the Wars of the Roses and was rewarded in 1461 by King Edward IV with the title Lord Herbert of Raglan. 

Later in 1461, at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross in Herefordshire, the Yorkist forces defeated the Lancastrians, led by Owen Tudor, who was subsequently beheaded at Hereford. His brother Jasper had to flee in disguise to Pembroke and was hunted mercilessly by Herbert. Jasper successfully eluded capture, eventually escaping to France via Scotland.

Herbert replaced Jasper Tudor as Earl of Pembroke and as guardian of the four-year-old Henry Tudor, who had been left behind at Pembroke Castle. Young Henry seems to have been treated kindly by the Herberts and was given a gentleman's education.

However, in 1469 Herbert fell out with "Kingmaker" Lord Warwick, because Warwick reneged on the King, leading the Lancastrian forces at the Battle of Edgecote Moor, after which William was executed, along with his brother Richard.

Hugh d'Avranches (born circa 1047 – died  27 July  1101), 1st Earl of Chester. Hugh, due to his gluttony, became so fat that he could hardly walk, earning him the nickname of le Gros (the Fat). He would also earn the nickname Lupus (Wolf) for his savage ferocity against the Welsh.

Following the Norman Conquest, King William I of England (William the Conquerer) installed Hugh d'Avranches, William FitzOsbern and Roger de Montgomerie as Earls of Chester, Hereford and Shrewsbury respectively.

These areas became known as the Welsh Marches and as a frontier society, the Earls were given special powers to bring their adjacent parts of Wales under Norman control. Absorbing  towns and villages and laying down their own laws and customs, they claimed these territories along the March as rights of conquest and built hundreds of small castles as assertions of power as well as defences against Welsh raids.

Hugh inherited a large estate in northern France and Normandy and was an important councillor of William the Conquerer, probably fighting with him at the Battle of Hastings, after which he was given the command of Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire.

1071 - Hugh was given the Earldom of Chester.

1081 - Gruffudd ap Cynan King of Gwynedd was captured at a meeting with Hugh at Rug, near Corwen. and imprisoned at Chester. Earl Hugh and Robert of Rhuddlan, his cousin, went on to take possession of Gwynedd, building castles at Bangor, Aberlleinog and Caernarfon.

1094 - Gruffudd ap Cynan escaped from captivity and regained Anglesey and much of the rest of Gwynedd.

1098 - Joining forces with Hugh of Montgomery, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury, Hugh attempted to recover his loss in Gwynedd. Gruffudd ap Cynan took refuge in Anglesey but fled to Ireland when a fleet he had hired from the Danish settlement in Ireland changed sides. The situation was turned around when a Norwegian fleet arrived, under the command of King Magnus III of Norway, also known as Magnus Barefoot. He attacked the Norman forces, and Earl Hugh of Shrewsbury was killed by an arrow, reputedly shot by Magnus himself. The Normans evacuated Anglesey, and in the following year, Gruffydd returned from Ireland to recover possession. Hugh apparently came to an agreement with him and did not try to recover these lands.   

The 27th July 1967  is a significant and vitally important date in the history of the Welsh language.

The Welsh Language Act 1967 was passed and became law. It was based upon part of the Hughes Parry Report (1965), which "advocated equal importance and significance, in both writing and speech, for Welsh and English in the court system" and was the beginning of a process of replacing out of date legislation that dated back to Henry VIII and the Acts of Union in 1536.  It had been passed only after extensive campaigning by members of Plaid Cymru and  Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Society) 

*  The act gave the right to use Welsh orally in court proceedings in Wales provided that the person who wishes to do so has notified the court in advance

*  The act allowed the appropriate and relevant government ministers to authorise Welsh versions or translations of any documents.

*  The act repealed the part of the Wales and Berwick Act of 1746 that stated that the term English should be used to include Wales as well as England.

*  The significance of the 1967 Welsh Language Act lay in the fact that only English was used in the law courts, disregarding the fact that most people in Wales in the 16th and 17th centuries spoke only Welsh. Very few had any real understanding of English.  The new act put Welsh on equal terms with English in public life.

However, some campaigners saw it as toothless and continued a pro-active campaign of protest, eventually leading to a new Welsh Language Act in 1993, which gave much more importance to the Welsh language. Significantly, however, it could not have been passed had it not been for the 1967 act.  

Born on this day 1926 in Merthyr

Eddie Thomas was a brilliant welterweight boxer with a fast left jab, who won the European, Empire and British boxing titles and came close to a world championship. He is best remembered, however, for his success as a manager. His protégée Howard Winstone won the WBC Featherweight title and Ken Buchanan became undisputed World Lightweight Champion a decade before Colin Jones, from Gorseinon, came heartbreakingly close to giving him a third world champion.

 As a young man, he joined his father and three of his six brothers in the mines at Cwmddu and continued working underground even after he became a successful professional fighter. All seven of the boys boxed, but his father opposed Eddie taking up the sport professionally as he considered it 'too dangerous'. In an ironic twist, his father was to lose an arm in a mining accident, while Thomas survived nearly fifty professional bouts without sustaining any damage.  He was known as the 'Singing Boxer' for entertaining the crowd with the song "Bless This House" after every fight. 

 He was considered a hero outside the ring as well, being among the first at the scene of the Aberfan mining disaster in 1966, and using his mining expertise to organise the rescue attempt. He salvaged many of the children's bodies himself, and the people of his community never forgot this, giving him the freedom of the town in 1992 and electing him mayor in 1994.  

Born on 27th July 1911 and raised in Abertillery

Air Vice Marshall Wilfred Oulton  - The Welshman who tested the H- Bomb

After University College, Cardiff, he became a pilot officer, joining a flying boat squadron at Southampton. In 1935, he attended the School of Air Navigation at Manston where he was recognised as an exceptional navigator.

During the Second World War, the most critical campaign of all, as conceded by Churchill, was the one fought against the German U-boats, who were eventually defeated by the Royal Navy and Coastal Command of the RAF.  Among the RAF pilots in that campaign, none was more expert and successful than Wilfred Oulton, who was awarded the DFC and the DSO for his courage, and who was mentioned three times in dispatches.

After the war, Oulton was deputy director of the newly-formed Air Traffic Control, helping to establish early systems at Heathrow, before being appointed as the Air attaché covering the southern part of the South American continent. At that later post, as Joint Commander of Operation Grapple at Christmas Island from 1956 to 1958, he organised and conducted nuclear tests.  

On 27th July 1946, the cause of an outbreak of typhoid in Aberystwyth was traced to locally-made ice cream.  During the outbreak, up to 210 people contracted the disease and four died.

The outbreak ruined the town's attempt to re-establish itself after the war as a viable holiday destination. At the time, one national newspaper carried the banner headline “Typhoid Town” above a story covering the infection, and the resulting bad national publicity reduced the number of visitors to Aberystwyth that summer and the following year.

The disease was found to have originated from a Bitchell’s ice cream cart; it appears that Bitchell’s power supply failed and they were unable to heat up the cream properly before freezing it.

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Born this day 1969 in Cardiff.

Tanni Grey (Baroness Carys Davina  Grey-Thompson)  was christened Carys Davina Grey, but her sister referred to her as "tiny" when she first saw her, pronouncing it "tanni" and the name stuck.

Born wth spina bifida, Tanni is Britain's most successful Paralympian ever, winning 11 Paralympic gold medals, as well as six London Marathons.  But she is not only defined by her sporting success, as since being made a peer, she has become an active champion in the House of Lords for the rights of disabled people, and alongside such sporting legends as Jack Nicklaus, Boris Becker and Pele, Tanni is also a Laureus Academy Member, which strives to improve the lives of disadvantaged children through participation in sport.

Tanni graduated from Loughborough University in 1991 with a BA (Hons) degree in Politics and Social Administration and is to be applauded in her recent attempt to learn Welsh, saying that  "Mum was a Welsh speaker but never spoke Welsh at home. I always thought she'd be around to speak Welsh to my daughter, Carys, but when she died, there was no one else to teach Carys".  Her autobiography Seize the Day was published in 2001.

Born this day 1967 in Aberdare

David "Dai" Young - former Wales and Lions rugby international and rugby league captain

Young made his debut for Wales against England in the quarter-finals of the 1987 Rugby World Cup aged 19 and went on to win 51 caps, a record for a prop forward.  He is also the only man to have toured with the British and Irish Lions in three separate decades: 1989, 1997 and 2001.  Young then transferred to Leeds to play rugby league, for a world record at the time of £150,000  He captained Wales in the 1995 Rugby League World Cup.  After retiring from playing, he became  head coach of the Cardiff Blues and is currently Director of Rugby at London Wasps.

The film Ironclad, released on 26th July 2011, was filmed entirely in Wales at the Dragon International Film Studios in Llanharan. It was the largest independent production to be filmed in Wales.  

Set in 13th-century England, the film depicts a small group of Knights Templar fighting to defend Rochester Castle against the tyrannical King John. 

A historically accurate replica of Rochester Castle was built in the studio complex.  

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On  26th July 1841, the proprietors of The Skerries Lighthouse off Anglesey, the last privately owned lighthouse in the British Isles, were awarded £444,984 in compensation for its sale to Trinity House.

1716  - The Skerries Lighthouse was first lit, having been built by William Trench, who tragically lost his son off the rocks.

1759  - The lighthouse was rebuilt, and was lit by a coal brazier on top of the tower.

1778  - Morgan Jones, who was twice High Sheriff of Cardiganshire, inherited the lighthouse. He raised the top of the tower by 6.7 metres (22 ft) and built an iron balcony with railings enclosing the oil-burning lantern. The light itself was comprised of square glazed panes and topped by a cupola.

1836  - Trinity House took over operation of the lighthouse under an enabling act of 1836, but not without a fight from the original owners, who wanted to protect their investment from a low takeover price.

1987  - The light was automated and is now controlled from Holyhead.

The National Pageant of Wales was held in Cardiff between 26th July - 7th August 1909.

Held in Sophia Gardens, it was intended to inspire the Welsh people to achieve great things.  The roles of ancient Welsh heroes and heroines were acted out by local dignitaries dressed in sumptuous costumes, with the Marchioness of Bute leading the performance as "Dame Wales," in a dress encrusted with a large red dragon.  Reportedly over 5,000 local people took part, including groups of children from local schools who played fairies, servants and supporters, and local rugby players who enacted marauding armies. The pageant was held over two weeks, with the first week's performances taking place in the afternoons, and the second week's evening performances being lit by hundreds of electric lights. 

Although the pageant attracted newspaper coverage and hundreds of visitors, it was not as successful as the organisers had hoped. Various reasons were suggested for its lack of impact and overspend:

*  A failure to take advantage of possible advertising opportunities. The event had only briefly been mentioned at the Eisteddfod in London a few weeks earlier.

*  The cost of costumes and the spectator stands.

*  The cost of the 3,000 incandescent electric lamps used during the evening performances, alongside electric flare lamps to illuminate the stage and searchlights of ten thousand candle power to sweep the grounds

* The failure of the population of Wales outside Cardiff and its surrounds to engage with the pageant.

On 26th July, the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games held in Cardiff came to an end with the closing ceremony at Cardiff Arms Park.

The Games, including the opening and closing ceremonies, were all held at the Cardiff Arms Park. A new Wales Empire Pool was constructed for the swimming events, Sophia Gardens Pavilion was used for the boxing events and Maindy Stadium was used for cycling. Boxer Howard Winstone won a Gold medal for Wales at the games.

Cardiff had originally been scheduled to host the games in 1946, but the event was cancelled because of World War II. The Cardiff Games were the last in which South Africa participated until 1994, after the abolition of apartheid. There were objections and demonstrations against South Africa in Cardiff because their team had been selected on the basis of race and colour rather than ability.

Born this day 1895 in Llanuwchllyn, Merionethshire 

Sir Ifan ab Owen Edwards -  best known as the founder of Urdd Gobaith Cymru, the Welsh League of Youth, also a writer and film-maker,

Sir Ifan was educated at Bala grammar school and University of Wales, Aberystwyth and after military service on the Western Front during World War I, he studied history at Lincoln College, Oxford.  He then worked as a teacher and lecturer from 1920 to 1948, before giving up the profession to concentrate on his work for the Urdd. In 1922, Edwards wrote a letter to the periodical Cymru'r Plant, as a result of which the Urdd was established. The first Urdd recreational camp was held at Llanuwchllyn in 1928, under his direction. It was gradually followed by more permanent camps and residential centres at Llangrannog, Glanllyn, the Wales Millenium Centre in Cardiff and Pentre Ifan.  In 1947,  he was knighted in recognition of his youth work.

He directed the first Welsh language sound film, The Quarryman, along with J. Ellis Williams. He was also a director of Television Wales and the West and encouraged the making of television programmes in Welsh. Owen Edwards, his son, was to be appointed as the first chief executive of S4C.  

Building work commenced on Aberystwyth Castle on this day 1277, during Edward I's invasion of Wales following Llywelyn ap Gruffudd's refusal to do homage to him at Chester in 1275.

A history of Aberystwyth Castle; 

1110  Marcher lord Gilbert de Clare built an earth and timber Motte and bailey castle a mile south of the current site  called "Castell Tan-y-castell", which was subsequently replaced with stone.

1136  The castle was captured by Owain Gwynedd.

1221  After changing hands, at least, three times, Llywelyn the Great  captured the castle and  razed it to the ground, building another one in its place.

1277  Work started on Edward I's castle on 25th July.

1282 (March)  Captured briefly by the Welsh and burned.

1282 (May)  Recaptured by the English, with repair work overseen by Master James of St George.

1282  Edward I stayed at Aberystwyth Castle 10-16th November.

1294-5  The castle was subjected to a lengthy siege during the revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn.

1295  Edward I stayed at Aberystwyth Castle.

1307  A borough was thriving outside the castle walls, the Welsh name of which was Llanbadarn Gaerog.

1404  Owain Glyndwr took the castle.

1405  French troops land in Wales in support of Owain Glyndwr. Charles VI of France seals a treaty with Owain Glyndwr at Aberystwyth Castle.

1408  Castle recaptured by Prince Henry ( the future Henry V).

1415  Henry V uses Aberystwyth Castle to hold French prisoners captured at Agincourt. 

1637 Aberystwyth Castle functioned as a Royal Mint making silver shillings during the reign of Charles l.

1642 - 1644  The castle was held by Royalist supporters during The English Civil War.

1646    Parliamentarians took the castle. 

1648   Cromwell ordered the castle to be slighted (taken out of use).  

Gruffydd ap Rhys II (died 25 July 1201) - eldest son and heir of Rhys ap Gruffydd (The Lord Rhys), ruler of Deheubarth.

In Rhys' last years a feud developed between Gruffydd and his brother Maelgwn ap Rhys. They became bitter enemies, so much so that when Rhys ap Gruffydd died in 1197 and Gruffydd was recognised as his successor, Maelgwn used troops supplied by Gwenwynwyn ab Owain of Powys to attack Gruffydd in Aberystwyth. Capturing both the town and the castle, Maelgwn took Gruffydd prisoner, handing the captive to Gwenwynwyn who turned him over to the English. He was imprisoned in Corfe Castle in Dorset.

In 1198 Gwenwynwyn threatened to take English holdings at Elfael and Painscastle, and Gruffydd was released in order to mediate the dispute. He failed, but Gwenwynwyn was defeated in the resulting battle.

Gruffydd remained at liberty, and by the end of 1198 had captured Ceredigion from Maelgwn except for the castles of Cardigan and Ystrad Meurig. In 1199, he captured Cilgerran Castle. Maelgwn made a pact with King John of England, exchanging possession of Cardigan castle for the  remainder of Ceredigion.

On 25th July 1201, Gruffydd died of an illness and was buried in Strata Florida Abbey. 

On 25th July 2012, Cardiff hosted an Olympic event for the first time as Great Britain's women's soccer team took on New Zealand.   

  On July 25th 1839, Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone married Catherine Glynne of Hawarden.

A history of Hawarden House and Castle:

Hawarden House and estate had previously belonged to the family of his wife, Catherine Glynne and is still owned by the Gladstone family, In its grounds are the ruins of Hawarden medieval castle, whose earthwork embankments date back to at least the Iron Age and was the site of a Norman motte and bailey castle, which  went on t0 play an important role during the Welsh struggle for independence in the 13th century;.

1260's   Llywelyn ap Gruffydd was granted possession of the castle from Simon de Montfort's son Henry, but the agreement was reneged on by the English.

1265   In retaliation Llywelyn destroyed the castle and captured Lord Robert de Montalt

1267   Montalt had been returned to power at the castle but was required to swear to never again fortify the site, an agreement he did not keep, refortifying the castle with a masonry round keep. 

1282   Dafydd ap Gruffydd. sieged and captured the castle and its constable, Roger de Clifford, thereby starting the final Welsh conflict with Norman England,  by the end of the year Llywelyn had been killed, and Dafydd fled, only to be captured and hanged, drawn and quartered in Shrewsbury the following year

1294   The castle was taken by Madog ap Llywelyn during a revolt.

1295   The castle was retaken by the English king Edward I

1642   During the English Civil War the castle was under Royalist control.

1643   It was briefly captured by Parliamentarians, but was quickly restored to Royalist control. 

1646   The castle finally fell to the Parliamentarians and was slighted and never restored,

1752   Hawarden House was erected and the castle became part of the estates

This week is the week of the Royal Welsh Agricultural show. For anyone who lives in rural Wales it is a highlight of the year, if any schools have not yet broken up for the summer holidays there will be a notable level of absenteeism! Farming families strive to get the hay crop in in time this year it would have been easier than for about the last 6 years thanks to 4 weeks dry weather and take a weeks holiday to camp on site or nearby.

For anyone not wanting to go to the show, its worth avoiding Builth Wells, which can be difficult as Wales' 2 major north south trunk roads cross here, traffic gets waved into car parks, I once over heard some poor Japanese tourists ask if this was the way to London after they had been herded into a car park, I dread to think how long it took them to get out!

The first Royal Welsh Agricultural show was held in Aberystwyth in 1904, and for the first half of its history the show was hosted by different counties at different locations around Wales each year. The tradition of the show being 'hosted' by different counties has continued, but since 1963 the show has taken place at Llanelwedd, across the river Wye from Builth Wells. In 2013 Anglesey is the 'featured county'.

http://www.rwas.co.uk/fifty-years-at-llanelwedd/

http://www.facebook.com/RoyalWelshAgriculturalSociety

I'm not sure if BBC iplayer works outside the UK...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=Royal%20Welsh%20Show%20(2013)

And for more tv highlights there's S4C http://www.rwas.co.uk/television-highlights-1/

Its not just an Agricultural show for farmers, anything and everything to do with the countryside is there, from falconry displays to fishing demonstrations, crafts, vintage machinery, an incredible variety of food to sample, I always look for ostrich burgers, venison, wild boar as well as Welsh lamb and beef... and fabulous farm cheeses and Ice cream, so its a glorious and tiring - family day out.

There are always a wonderful variety of displays in the main ring, http://www.rwas.co.uk/whats-on/ . One of the highlights is the pony club games, there are always some stunning performances by specialist display teams. Wednesday is Welsh Cob day, there's always a big cheer as these hefty horses thunder around the ring.

A wide range of organizations which work towards looking after the countrysides from various standpoints are represented in the countryside area. http://www.rwas.co.uk/countryside-care-area-1/

Anyone will say you need to spend all four days there to get around half of the displays, trade stands and activities, to sample just some of the food on offer, to watch performances in the various rings or to see the huge variety of animals shown.

If you plan to travel to Wales in the future, consider a day at the show, but plan your accommodation well in advance! Cambrian Safaris could of course provide or arrange transport from accommodation in the Aberystwyth area! At other times of the year, the Spring festival, also known as the Smallholdings and Gardens Show is held on the 3 ^rd weekend in May and the Winter fair is at the beginning of December.

See http://www.welshbreedsnews.co.uk/albums/Royal%20Welsh%20Show%202012/ for more images like the one below!

But with a difference!

As many of our readers will be aware we have held an online Photographic Competition in years gone by as part of the West Coast Eisteddfod. This year we are pleased and proud to announce that we are doing something a little different. In conjunction with our partners at Focalview we bring you the Americymru Focal View International Photographic Competition. The differences?

• You do not need to register with AmeriCymru in order to submit ( although we hope you'll consider joining )

• The competition will be judged by an international panel of eight professional judges.

• The winning submission will be used to illustrate the front cover of issue two of eto , our bi-annual anthology of Welsh fiction due for publication in September.

SO you have approximately 5 weeks to enter....for submission details see below. The winner will be announced both here and on the Focalview website in early September. We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our contestants pob lwc/best of luck in the competition.

The Americymru Focal View International Photographic Competition is a joint salon which coincides with the West Coast Eisteddfod, offering writers and poets the opportunity to add creative images to their contributions and for photographers in Wales and elsewhere opportunity to offer images to illustrate contributions to the Eisteddfod.
The competition is free and open to all. The first two month cycle prizes include your image as the front cover of the next edition of ETO due to be published in September. The images are assessed by an international panel of eight professional judges as well as our 'open judging panel'.
Visit http://www.focalview.co.uk/ to register for the Judging Panel and to accept our free book ' A Story of a Judgment' which explains how images are assessed in competition.
Visit http://www.focalview.co.uk/americymru international.html to enter the Americymru Focal View International Competition

Also check out the The Focal View Photographic Course details below :-

Writers and Photographers in Collaboration ; ETO and Creative Photography
Photographic illustration of contemporary writing and poetry brings like-minded people together to present shared stories. The Focal View Photographic Course uses ETO as required reading to teach the techniques and skills for illustrative imagery. Focal View are now publishing a new range of tutorial guides used in the course and also for sale separately as advice material for the competition themes.
These are the Perspectives On ..... series. The first is based on an ETO story and gives you ideas for creative illustration. This eBook as well as the full version of ETO will be 'must-reads' for all contributors to the Americymru Focal View International Photographic Competition: http://www.focalview.co.uk/americymru international.html

The infamous ‘Monk’s Blood’ manuscript 

On 24th July 2010 there was a special opening of  the exhibition "Thomas Phillips and the Greatest Little Library in Wales." at the University of Wales, Lampeter, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of its benefactor, Thomas Phillips.  

The exhibition included the many books and manuscripts which Phillips donated to St David’s College between 1834 and 1852; in excess of 30,000 volumes, all printed between 1470 and 1850.  The focal point of the collection is the 'The Monk’s Blood manuscript', which is reputed to have been spattered with the blood of one of the twelve hundred monks massacred at Bangor-Is-Coed in around the year 616 before the Battle of Chester. There, Aetelfrith, the King of Northumbria, conquered the Kingdom of Powys.  The manuscript was described in 1862 as  “The grand curiosity is a manuscript which once belonged to the monks of Bangor Is Coed.  It bears the marks of blood with which it was sprinkled when the monks were massacred by the heathen Saxons…”

The Window tax was abolished in England and Wales on 24th July 1851

"Daylight robbery"

The Window Tax was introduced in 1696, during the reign of William III, when Britain was burdened with expenses from The Glorious Revolution of 1868 and the costs of re-coinage necessitated by the "miserable state" of existing coins, which had been reduced by clipping small portions of the high-grade silver coins.  It was levied at two shilling on properties with up to ten windows, rising to four shillings for houses with between ten and twenty windows.  It was extremely unpopular and to avoid paying the tax some houses from the period can be seen to have windows bricked-up

The term "daylight robbery" is thought to have originated from the window tax as it was described by some as a "tax on light".

Born this day 1975 in Mufulira, Zambia

Dafydd James  - former Wales and Lions rugby international.  James won an ERC Elite Award for becoming the first player ever in Heineken Cup history to score twenty-five tries in the tournament. 

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On 24th July 1816, the Old Wye Bridge, Chepstow (rebuilt in cast iron) was opened across the River Wye.

The Old Wye Bridge at Chepstow crosses the River Wye between Monmouthshire in Wales and Gloucestershire in England. There had been wooden bridges in the same location below the castle since Norman times, but the present cast iron road bridge was built in 1816 to an initial design by John Rennie, which was subsequently modified by John Rastrick who actually constructed it.

The river Wye has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world, and the bridge across it considerably shortened the journey distance between Newport and Gloucester. A new road bridge was opened alongside the railway bridge in 1988, with the old road bridge, which is a Grade l Listed Building, now carrying local traffic.

Born this day 1876 in Varteg Hill, near Pontypool

Viv Huzzey - former Wales rugby and baseball international. Huzzey left Wales to play rugby league for Oldham in 1900 after he had controversially been denied the captaincy of Cardiff.