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Hello everyone, I found this site last night and have spent some time reading some interesting stories and other entries within the site - it's great for people that have left Wales but are still hankering after their roots.
I started a website called All things Pembrokeshire, it's a community website with information about people, places, pics, history etc in Pembrokeshire. It's at www.allthingspembrokeshire.co.uk .
Also due to my love of arts, crafts and designs, I opened an online shop promoting and selling products made by Pembrokeshire people. I hope you will like it at www.made-in-pembrokeshire.co.uk
There is also a blog on made in Pembrokeshire and you can click the RSS feed at bottom left of the page to follow.
Lovely
Bye for now
Jayne from faraway Pembrokeshire
Born on this day 1946 in Swansea
Mervyn Davies - former Wales captain and Lions international, who was instantly recognisable with his thick white headband and moustache.
Davies was educated at Penlan Boys School and Swansea College of Education, after which he secured a teaching post in Guildford and began playing for London Welsh.
Davies was a sensation, earning the nickname "Merv the Swerve", due to his deceptive running and was given his international debut, within 3 months. He went on to win two grand slams, with Wales and was a crucial member of the Lions series winning teams in New Zealand in 1971 and South Africa in 1974.
Davies suffered an injury which caused bleeding in the brain and ended his career in 1076 and in a poll of Welsh fans in 2001, he was voted the greatest ever Wales No 8 and captain.
Donny Osmond was born on this day 1957 in Ogden, Utah
Osmond with his six older brothers and younger sister were raised as Mormons by their parents Olive May Osmond (née Davis) and George Virl Osmond.
Along with five of his brothers, he was a member of the popular singing group The Osmonds. Donny went solo in the early 1970s, with hits such as "Go Away Little Girl" and "Puppy Love", before performing with his sister Marie, as Donny & Marie, an act that has been headlining in Las Vegas since 2008.
Osmond traced his family ancestry back to Merthyr Tydfil, during a documentary for BBC Wales entitled, Donny Osmond Coming Home.
On 9th December 2007, "Joe" Calzaghe became BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
Joseph William "Joe" Calzaghe is a former undisputed Super Middleweight Champion of the World, who retired in February 2009 with an undefeated record and the longest continual time as world champion of any active fighter.
"Super Joe" is sometimes referred to as the "Pride of Wales," or the "Italian Dragon" in reference to his mixed heritage. He was born in Hammersmith, London, to his Sardinian father Enzo Calzaghe and his Welsh mother Jackie and the family moved to Newbridge when he was two years old. Calzaghe was the first person to be awarded the Freedom of Caerphilly in 2009.
During World War One, the 53rd (Welsh) Division was one of the three Divisions which bore the brunt of the fighting against the Turkish army in Palestine, prior to them capturing Jerusalem on 9th December 1917.
Born on this day 1575 in Abergavenny.
David Baker, who as Dom Augustine Baker, was instrumental in re-establishing the Benedictines in Britain.
Father Baker studied law at Oxford, where he also lost his faith in the existence of God, but refound his faith after surviving a near death experience and gave up his work to become a Benedictine monk in Italy. He then traveled the Continent, giving legal advice to Benedictine Houses.
Then in 1638, Father Baker was sent on a mission to England, to re-establish the Benedictine order. He lived constantly under the threat of being discovered and after three years, he was on the point of being captured when he contracted a contagious fever which scared away his persecutors. However, Father Baker was to subsequently die in concealment.
Born on this day 1760 in Llanbradach, near Caerphilly
Morgan John Rhys - radical evangelical Baptist minister, who emigrated to America in 1794 after falling out of favour with the establishment for his views supporting the French Revolution, the abolition of slavery and parliamentary reform. In America, he changed his surname to Rhees and is crediting with establishing the Welsh colony of Cambria in Pensylvania, where the language, culture and religion of Wales was dominant.
Born on this day 1977 in Aberystwyth
Stephen Jones - former Wales rugby captain and Lions international. Jones won 104 caps and two Grand Slams with Wales in 2005 and 2008. He is also the second-highest Wales point scorer. Jones played the majority of his career with Llanelli Scarlets, apart from short spells at Clermont Auvergne, where he was chosen by French journalists as the fly-half of the season and at London Wasps, where he retired from professional rugby in 2013 to take up a coaching position and more recently, The Scarlets.
Richard Llewellyn (real name Richard Dafydd Vivian Llewellyn Lloyd) was a novelist, born of Welsh parents in Hendon, north London on 8th December 1906.
Llewellyn is best remembered as the author of the internationally acclaimed novel "How Green Was My Valley", which was later made into a classic Hollywood film, depicting life in the South Wales coal mining communities.
On 8th December 1980, John Lennon was shot four times in the back by Mark Chapman who had asked the former Beatle for his autograph only hours before laying in wait and killing him.
One of John Lennon's Welsh connections, was his maternal aunt, Mary Elizabeth "Mimi" Smith (both maternal grand parents were Welsh) who was also Lennon's parental guardian. Lennon lived with Mimi and her husband George Smith for most of his childhood, after his mother Julia had handed him over to them and when The Beatles became successful, Lennon bought her a home in Poole in Dorset.
The monastery on Caldey Island was first established in the sixth century and the Welsh name for the island is Ynys Bŷr, named after St Pyr, an early abbot. Also located on the island, is St Illtyd's Church, which contains the Caldey Stone, which dates to the 5th or 6th Century. It has inscriptions both in Latin and in the ancient Ogham script which originated in Ireland, bearing the name of ‘Dubricius’ (St. Dyfrig) who was an early Bishop of Llandaff and who would visit Cadley Island each year for Lent.
Other points of interest regarding Caldey Island;
* Caldey Island consists of two islands which are separated at high tide, they are called Caldey Island and Little Caldey Island. Little Caldey Island is also known as St Margaret's Island.
* The name Caldey is derived from the Viking keld eye , meaning "cold island"
* In the 12th century, a priory was established by Benedictine monks, which lasted until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536.
* The current abbey was built in 1910 by Anglican Benedictine monks but financial problems beginning in 1925 led to the 1929 purchase of the property by Belgian Cistercians.
* Caldey Lighthouse was built in 1828. The light was intended to help coastal traffic trading limestone and coal to mid and north Wales, but it also helped long-distance and north American traffic identify the Bristol Channel and avoid confusion with the English Channel.
* The island issues its own postage stamps and has its own currency called the Dab meaning “flat fish”,
* The island’s economic activity is supported by tourism and agriculture and has factories and farms, mainly involving the monks, who make cheese, perfumes and other products.
On 7th December 1203, Geoffrey de Henlaw was consecrated as Bishop of St David's.
His appointment is significant, as it ended Gerald of Wales's (Giraldus Cambrensis) own ambitions for the job and sealed the final subjection of the Welsh bishops to the archiepiscopal jurisdiction of Canterbury.
From 1199 to 1203 Gerald’s life was clouded by his frustrated ambition to become bishop of St. David’s. This ambition led him to reject four Irish and two Welsh bishoprics, before being nominated for St. David’s in 1199, however, the archbishop of Canterbury promoted a rival candidate and Pope Innocent III quashed both elections in 1203, after King John of England had declared that Gerald was an enemy of the realm.
On 7th December 1916, with the support of the Conservative and Labour leaders, David Lloyd George replaced Herbert Asquith as British Prime Minister. Lloyd George was 54 and at the height of his powers. His energy, eloquence, and ability had already made him the leading statesman of the day, and his accession to the premiership was highly popular in the country generally. He was the first and to date, the only Welshman to hold the office of Prime Minister.
Though Lloyd George was not on good terms with the generals fighting the campaign on the Western Front, they respected the energy he brought to the political side of the campaign and his achievements in persuading the Royal Navy to introduce the convoy system and the unification of the Allied military command under the French general Ferdinand Foch, were both instrumental in him being acclaimed as the man who had won the war.
Penarth pier was opened in 1894 by the Penarth Promenade and Landing Pier Company.
The pier proved an immediate success, attracting thousands of holiday makers. However, this was dramatically affected by the outbreak of World War One, when all the paddle steamers that used the pier, were commandeered as mine sweepers and the pier itself was used to protect the approach to Cardiff Docks.
After the war, the pier was in a bad state of repair and in order tp repair the damage, the Pier Company claimed £7,228 from the War Compensation Court. However on 7th December 1922, a decision was made to issue only £353. The people of Penarth were outraged, but even an appeal to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Stanley Baldwin, did not see the decision reversed. Undeterred the work of repairing the pier was undertaken and the paddle steamers returned, but the heyday of the pier was over and it was sold to the council in 1924.
Born on this day 1912 in Pembroke
Daniel Jenkyn Jones - one of the most distinguished classical composers of the 20th century, whose song settings were used in Dylan Thomas's play, "Under Milk Wood"
Jones attended the Bishop Gore School in Swansea, where he formed a close friendship with Dylan Thomas, both becoming part of the informal group of aspiring artists called the Kardomah Gang. Jones left Swansea to study music at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he won the Mendelssohn Scholarship in 1935, which allowed him to study in Czechoslovakia, France, the Netherlands and Germany, where he was also able to develop his linguistic skills.
During the War, he served as a captain in the Intelligence Corps at Bletchley Park as a decoder of Russian, Romanian and Japanese texts. After the War, Jones published his memoir, My Friend Dylan Thomas, his fourth symphony, which is dedicated to the poet and also edited a collection of Thomas' poetry. Charles Fisher another member of the Kardomah gang, described Dan Jones as a genius.
Born on this day 1963 in Neath
Mark Bowen - former Wales soccer international who earned 41 Welsh caps as left-back. In club football, he most associated with Norwich City, for whom he made 399 appearances and was voted their fans, the clubs best ever left-back. Since retiring in 1999, he has worked as assistant to Mark Hughes with Wales and at Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, Fulham and Stoke.
"It is the Tale of American Wales,or South Wales or Modern Wales, since 1945...."
Read our review of Dream On here
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AmeriCymru: Helo Dai and many thanks for agreeing to talk to AmeriCymru. ''Dream On'' is your first novel. What inspired you to write it?
Dai: Dreams are as actual as day to day living but elusive in any representation of that living. Writing history is another way of dreaming up that past life by imposing a narrative or analytical order which the simultaneity of living,in past and present and in dreams and waking, implicitly denies. So,I wanted to find a form to tell an underlying truth,one to be found in the rhythm of dreams,about the people and places which hold me and which I have long attempted to reveal in my historical writings. That form was a fictive one, for a deeper story.
AmeriCymru: How would you describe the novel for an American audience?
Dai: It is the Tale of American Wales,or South Wales or Modern Wales, since 1945, and the intermeshing of the global and the local in various lives fixed by this space over time. My novel is a kaleidoscope which the passage of years shakes to rearrange the shards of individual, yet related lives. Something was available and someting has been irretreivably lost.Then,in keeping with my tragic theme,I use the bewildering variety of genres and language,of cultures and attitudes, which expressed those lives,at times irrespective of intentions or desire. We move at a pace from the blackly comic to gothic grotesque, from the noir of the thriller to the mundane entrapment of manners and customs.The intention is to subvert, by plot and tonality, any easy expectations at every turn. Just as it was in the lives of the dreamers I here imagine.
AmeriCymru: How significant was the immediate post war period in Welsh and indeed, British history? What role does the memory of that period play in the novel?
Dai: South Wales, politically and socially and culturally, was centre stage in British life for almost two decades after the Second World War. It was the very embodiment of the Phoenix which was set to emerge, and almost did, from the ashes of Depression and War. Think Aneurin Bevan and the NHS, Richard Burton and Stanley Baker, Gwyn Thomas and Dylan Thomas, and a supporting cast of hearts, minds and dreams. But, of course, as an economy based on coal and steel the Star was dying from within, even as its glory burned brightest. This, too, is my subject,and the contrast between the wild aspirations of the beginning of the twentieth century and of this more circumspect one.
AmeriCymru: There is much in ''Dream On'' to suggest a decline in political idealism since the miner''s strike of 84-85. Do you think this is true?
Dai: Yes. But one world has passed, and this new one needs a different approach, albeit if some human values must be constant.
AmeriCymru: Care to tell us something about your other recent title ''In the Frame: Memory in Society 1910 to 2010''?
Dai: That book, a compound of Memoir and History, was the bridge I constructed to let me cross over as a writer of fiction. It is a one way bridge.
AmeriCymru: What was the book that most influenced your fiction writing — and why?
Dai: The Great Gatsby. Because it remains the quintessential Fable of Modern Life, set to shape and direct all aspects of existence. And because it is gorgeous and indeed great. I never tire of reading it.
AmeriCymru: What are you working on now?
Dai: Well, I have just edited two volumes called "Story", to be the definitive volumes of short stories written in English from Wales. It will appear in the Library of Wales Series, of which I am General Editor, in the autumn. And a sequel to "Dream On", but set further back in time, is irrepressibly bubbling up.
AmeriCymru: Any final messages for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?
Dai: That we are closer, for all our differences, than some may ever care to know.
Seren will be opening a pop-up shop in Castle Arcade, Cardiff, throughout December. The National Theater of Wales have very kindly let us use their shop front at 30 Castle Arcade, for the month of December, while they are busy promoting their latest project, Silly Kings.
In addition to selling great books we will be hosting many author events with Francesca Rhydderch, Rhian Edwards, Robert Minhinick Ivy Alvarez, Damian Walford Davies , Phil Cope and Grahame Davies all due to make an appearance Books make great presents, signed books make even better ones.
We will also be giving out a secret daily discount code to be used in the shop, so keep you eyes on our Twitter and Facebook accounts!
The shop will be open every day up until Christmas from 10am 5pm . So come and join us for great offers, author events and a mince pie.
Author Events @ The Seren Christmas Pop-Up Shop:
Thursday 5th December Robert Minhinnick, 12pm
Robert will be in the shop to promote his latest title, The Island of Lightning , in which he travels all over the world, from Porthcawl, to Argentina, China, Finland, Iraq, Tuscany, Piemonte, New York, Zagreb, Lithuania and the lightning island of Malta A perfect present for the armchair traveller.
Saturday 7th December Festive Fiction, 2pm
Francesca Rhydderch ( The Rice Paper Diaries ), David Llewellyn ( Ibrahim & Reenie ) and Kate Hamer (author of 1976 , our short story of the month) will all be at the shop reading their fantastic fiction. Come and join us for an afternoon of great stories, mulled wine and mince pies.
Wednesday 11th December Rhian Edwards 2pm
Wales Book of the Year Winner Rhian Edwards will be reading from her award winning collection Clueless Dogs . Rhian is a recipient of the John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry, so this is an event not to be missed.
Thursday 12th December Phil Cope, 11am
Phil Cope will be in to tell us about the ancient myths and magic tales behind the sacred wells in the disputed Borderlands between England and Wales. Beautifully illustrated in colour throughout, the wells from Cheshire to Monmouthshire, from the Dee to the Severn are displayed in all their glory, be they in remote countryside or city centre.
Friday 13th December Ivy Alvarez, 2pm
Ivy will be reading from her debut collection Disturbance , a novel in verse that chronicles a murder case, in which the family was gunned down by its patriarch. Each poem plays out like a piece of evidence, slotting together to give us the full case. We hear from the family, the neighbors and the authorities who all could have acted to avoid this tragedy.
Saturday 14th December Short Story Season, 2pm
Maria Donovan and Mary-Anne Constantine will be reading from their short story collections on the 14th. These bite sized stories are perfect for reading in a spare 15 minutes with a cup of coffee and a biccie. Pop in and join us for a minced pie.
Monday 16th December Grahame Davies, 11am
Grahame will be stopping by the shop at 11am on the 16th for a meet and greet. Grahame is the author of several books including, The Dragon and the Crescent, Everything Must Change , Real Wrexham , The Chosen People and Lightning Beneath the Sea as well as co-editing The Big Book of Cardiff with Peter Finch.
Friday 20 th December Damian Walford-Davies, 11am
Damian will be signing copies of his latest poetry collection Witch . With the narrative pull of a novel and the vibrancy of a play for voices. Witch offers a thrilling portrait of a Suffolk village in the throes of the witchcraft hunts of the mid-seventeenth century.
Saturday 21st December Dai George, 2pm
Dai George will be calling in to the pop up shop at 2pm . His brilliant dbut novel The Claims Office mixes straightforward narrative with elaborate and strange textures and imagery. This rich surface is undercut by an interesting attitude: a mix of rebellious energy and unflinching satire. His nature poems are often anti-nature poems, there are lively pieces about London and New York and skewed love poems.
Last year, I decided I wanted a vase or two of beautiful, blooming daffodils on my table for St Davids Day. I knew you could force them to bloom indoors, out of season, so I started looking for directions.
Many websites have directions for forcing daffs indoors, in soil, 13 weeks ahead of when you want them to bloom. I wanted mine in water and rocks only, no soil, and I did it in twelve weeks, which was perfectly timed. If you want a vase of daffs on your table this March 1, try this about now:
Pick your daff variety. The classic daffodil is available all over but there are lots of cultivars: short-stemmed varieties, miniature jonquils, double blooms, short or long cups, different colors, many choices!
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In case you didnt already know, daffodils are a member of the Narcissus genus and they're all poisonous. Don't let children or pets eat any part of the plant and the sap can cause dermatitis in some people, especially wash your hands if you're handling a baby after you cut daffodils or get the sap on your skin.
We were very lucky to get a present of some Really Welsh Duffydils from some lovely people a few years ago and I used these. I did this last year and took pics - these bulbs were a couple of years old, a 2009 product. I was a bit worried they'd be dead and wouldn't produce blooms, because they were so old, but they weren't - they worked perfectly!
II couldn't tell from their site if they're selling daffs by mail order. I though they were but can't find it, but give them a try if you want daffodils from Wales.
The American Daffodil Society has pictures of many beautiful cultivars to look at and think about on their pages: http://www.daffodilusa.org/daffodils/div.html . They also have a list of suppliers you can order from , all over the world and including the UK, if you don't find what you want locally.
Wrap your daff bulbs in paper towels, root side down, and set them in open plastic sandwich bags in your refrigerator door. They should be stored at 35-45 - I think thats 2-7 -
At about six weeks or so, you should have some good roots and shoots on them.
Select your container. Make sure the one you select will support the variety of daffs you've chosen. It would probably be sensible to choose a deep container for big, long-stemmed varieties. I did one deep, one medium and one shallow. The flowers in the shallow container fell over a couple of times and wouldn't stand up at the end but before that, they looked frankly awesome in their low, glass bowl.
Take them out of the fridge and put them in a vase or container in a bed of pebbles or stones (or marbles or whatever), about two thirds up the bulb, root side down. Cover the rocks with cold water. They need light now, so move them to a cool spot in the winter sun, about 60 or 16 and watch them grow. It was mild where we live that winter, so I put them out on the porch.
When they get a bit tall and start to show blooms, move them to your table or wherever you're going to enjoy them (and show them off!).
They were bright and tall and beautiful, and they looked absolutely great on the table.
The new book is about terrorism, and police-spies and agents provocateurs - an almost out-and-out thriller, but with added metaphysics.
On 6th December 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Jacobite army retreated from Derby, not knowing that the Welsh Jacobites has risen in support, that London was in panic and that George II was ready flee to the Continent. Their retreat ultimately resulted with the quashing of the rebellion to restore the line of James II to the throne of England, at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
WELSH JACOBITES
* Prior to an earlier rebellion in 1715, there had been evidence of strong support for the Jacobite cause in the Wrexham area, with riots probably organised by the local landowner, Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, who was a member of the Cycle of the White Rose, a secret political club that supported the Jacobites.
*There were also secret Jacobite groups in Montgomeryshire, Talgarth and Pembrokeshire.
* Initially the Welsh Jacobites held the position, during the 1745 rebellion, that they would only rise up, on the intervention of the French.
* David Morgan from Penygraig near Quakers Yard obtained a captain's commission in the army of Bonnie Prince Charlie, but he was captured and executed, with his head displayed on Temple Bar in London.
Born on this day 1848 in Landore, Swansea
Thomas Edwards - Independent minister and Archdruid of the U.S.A
Edwards emigrated to Pensylvania in 1870, where he established a church society called the Cynonfardd Literary Society, designed to teach English to Welsh, through the literary disciplines of the Welsh Eisteddfod, such as music, singing and poetry. This proved so successful that it led to the first Cynonfardd Eisteddfod being held on March 17 1889. The Eisteddfod is still held annually and it is believed to be the oldest outside of Wales. Edwards was was invested as Archdruid of the U.S.A in 1913.
In December 1215, Llywelyn the Great captured Shrewsbury Castle in a campaign that also saw him take those at Carmarthen, Cardigan Kidwelly, Cilgerran and Llanstephan.
It is thought that the town of Shrewsbury was founded by the Saxons of Mercia in the 8th century to control the Severn river-crossing on the road between the Hereford and Chester.
The earliest written mention of Shrewsbury is in 901, after which, it grew in stature and by 1066 had become the county town of Shropshire consisting of more than 250 houses and four churches. However in 1069, an alliance of Welshmen and the men of Chester burned the town. Then Roger de Montgomery, a relative of William the Conqueror, was created the first Earl of Shrewsbury and built a castle in 1074, where the present Shrewsbury Castle is now situated.
The town fell to Welsh forces led by Llywelyn the Great in 1215 and again in 1234 and in 1283 Edward I held a Parliament at Shrewsbury to decide the fate of Dafydd ap Gruffydd, the last prince of an independant Wales. Dafydd was subsequently hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason in Shrewsbury.
In the Middle Ages, Shrewsbury was as a centre of the woollen trade and a place where Welsh cloth was finished. Shrewsbury merchants would buy the cloth, which had been woven and fulled but not finished, in Oswestry market and after finishing it, much of it was sent to London markets for sale.
Ruperra Castle, which was built in 1626, is a Grade II Listed Building, situated in Lower Machen, near Caerphilly.
* Following the Battle of Naseby, King Charles I spent two nights at Ruperra Castle in 1645.
* Godfrey Charles Morgan, who was a captain during the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaklava in the Crimean War, was born at Ruperra.
* It has been destroyed by fire in 1785, 1895 and most recently on 6th December 1941, after which, the castle has been left as a decaying ruin and the entire estate sold as farm land.
WATERFALLS OF WALES
Pistyll Rhaeadr is located a few miles from the village of Llanrhaedr-ym-Mochnant, twelve miles west of Oswestry.
Pistyll Rhaeadr is formed by the Afon Disgynfa falling, in three stages, over a 240-foot Silurian cliff-face, below which the river is known as the Afon Rhaedr. It is counted as one of the Seven Wonders of Wales and is a Site of Specific Scientific Interest.
The 19th century author George Borrow, in his book Wild Wales, remarked of the waterfall: "What shall I liken it to? I scarcely know, unless it is to an immense skein of silk agitated and disturbed by tempestuous blasts, or to the long tail of a grey courser at furious speed. I have never seen a water falling so gracefully, so much like thin, beautiful threads as here."
