Have we gone too far? Will we be praised for our technical ingenuity or ridiculed and scorned for our blatant promotional tactics? If the latter....unload your bile and spleen here.

AmeriCymru spoke to Alan Cliff, the author of the 'Jack The Station Cat' childrens book series. Jack is based on a real life cat who lived in Wrexham and Rhyl. In the series he resides at Tails End Station and holds down the post of Station Cat.

Americymru: Hi Alan......what drew you to writing children's fiction?

Alan: From 1993 to 2006 every month I wrote a column for aBritish model railroad magazine "British Railway Modelling." In thiscolumn which was entitled Lock's Siding" I featured a station catcalled Jack named after one of our own cats.. Several readers plusmembers of my own family challenged me to turn Jack into thehero of children's stories. I had no erxperience of writing children'sfiction. I decided the best age group to write for would be forreading age 6-8 which would also allow younger children to be readto. I talked to my younger daughter Ailsa who teaches primaryschool children. Armed with her advice I settled down in 1998 towrite the first Jack stories. Eventually I found a publisher in NorfolkEngland, Wendy Webb Children's Books, and September 2000saw the first book "Jack the Station Cat Goes to School"published. When Wendy Webb Books gave up publishingchildren's books in 2004 I was taken on by the Welsh publisherGwasg Helygain of Rhyl in North Wales. I am still with thispublisher.

Americymru:Jack the Station Cat is based on a real live cat is he not? Care totell us a little about the real Jack?

Alan: Jack was a real cat but the only station he ever saw wasthe one on my model railroad. He loved to get on the baseboardand dislocate traffic. This gave me the idea of "Jack the Station Catgoes to School" where Jack learns to be a first class station cat.There is a painting of the real Jack by Rhyl artist Mari Bell at thefront of the book. Jack was born in 1988 near Wrexham the largesttown in North Wales. He originally belonged to our younger sonNigel. Nigel is the illustrator of all the Jack books bar the firstversion of "Jack goes to School" and "Jack lends a Helping Paw."However he came to live with my wife and me in Rhyl when only afew months old. He died in 2000 after a full feline life but lives on inthe shape of his alter ego "Jack the Station Cat."

Americymru: Jack has raised quite a bit of money for charity. Can you tell uswhat charities have benefited from sales of the book?

Alan: The Jack books have supported a number of Britishchildrern's and youthcharities. Half my royalties go to the charitynamed at the front of the book. These include the WinnicottFoundation at St Mary's Hospital Paddington London.:The NationalAutiistic Society: The Railway Children: Fitzwilliam CollegeCambridge poor students fund: National Children's Home (renamedAction for Children) a Methodist Church foundation, one of Britain'slargest children's welfare charities: The Children's Trust, Tadworthan offshoot of Great Ormonde Street Children's Hospital London:TY Gobaith (Hope House) children's hospice at Conwy, NorthWales and Save the Family, a charity working to keep families thathave become dysfunctional together, based at Northop Hall, NorthWales. Jack also supports "Cats Protection" the UK's largest catwelfare charity.

Americymru: How many Jack the Station Cat titles have been published todate? Are you working on any other series of children's books?

Alan: There are 13 titles to date, five published by Wendy WebbBooks and nine by Gwasg Helygain. The Wendy Webb books areout of print.

Gwasg Helygain republished "Jack goes to School" in 2008. Irevised the book and Nigel reillustrated same. Two of the GwasgHelygain titles "Jack and the Great Little Trains Robbery" and"Jack and the Lost Kittens" have been translated into Welsh byBerwyn Prys Jones. All the books have puzzles at the back a fewset by myself but most devised by Brenda Wyatt from Kinmel Baynear Rhyl. All the Gwasg Helygain books, English and Welshlanguage, are in print.

I have written another children's series, three books,about Jack'scousins Grabbit and Skoot who live in the country. The books areout of print though I have a few copies left for sale. A Wendy Webbpublication I need a new publisher for them.

Americymru: Where can people purchase Jack the Station Cat titles?

Alan: Wholesalers should approach my publisher www.gwasg.com e-mail:- guto@gwasg.com Private buyers should look at Jack the Station Cat's web-site www.jackthestationcat.co.uk find the Book Sales page and clickon to Amazon Books logo. This will take them straight to Amazon.co.uk Alternatively there is a link from each Jack booklisted on Jack's web-site to bfkbooks.com the international bookreviewers.. A link then goes from the review to Amazon.

Americymru:What's next for Alan Cliff? Will we be seeing more Jack theStation Cat books?

Alan: There are two more Jack books on the stocks.

Americymru:Any final message for members and readers of AmeriCymru?


Alan: You are never too old to write. I was 64 when the first Jackchildren's book came out in 2000. Ten years down the line I stillenjoy writing even if I am a little slower than I used to be. The Jackbooks keep me young at heart.

'Jack The Station Cat' Immortalized On First Day Cover

Interview by Ceri Shaw Email

AmeriCymru: Hi Janet and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by AmeriCymru. You have been busy unearthing your family roots. Can to tell us a little about what you have found?

Janet: Hello Ceri and everyone here at AmeriCymru. I am very happy to be interviewed here today.

You ask me what I have found. I found a life I never knew I had before my adoption at age 5. After my adopted mother (Alberta Raymond-Mancini) died in August of 2000 I became curious about my birth mother. And so I started a search that would at the time, only take me two months. I was able to find The Children's Home I was placed in by my birth mother, (Mary Margaret Morris-Lener) , the women who worked there and took care of me and my biological family, which I never knew I had. But to this day I still am able to meet relatives I never knew I had. My adopted mother and I were very close and after she died I felt the need to also grieve my birth mother's death, who had died at age 39 and I was only 4 years old when she died. I did not know who she was or anything about her until I started my search. From the time I met her last living sibling, my Aunt Catherine. This took place in 2003

AmeriCymru: Genealogical research scares some people. How easy/difficult haver you found it to trace your family roots?

Janet: My search happened very rapidly. Once I found the women who worked in The Children's Home they knew alot of information about my biological family. In fact one of the women gave me my first picture of my biological father. One of them knew one of my Uncle's. So I was already off on the right foot. I made great strides in my research. I have since learned a lot about my Welsh/Scotch/German and Irish roots. The only information I found online was my biological father's date of death. Then I started listing questions on ancestry.com and genealogy.com. Also local social groups, who I found very friendly and helpful. I spent countless hours searching the microfilm at the Uniontown library.

AmeriCymru: What advice would you give to anyone attempting genealogical research for the first time?

Janet: If you are starting your search expect to spend many hours searching online. I can say from experience it is a lot easier to search now then when I started. Mine was all on foot. Now you can sit at your computer and search genealogy sites for free. It is amazing to me now what is available online. . Once I found something it always lead to another question and I loved every single minute of it and it has become a hobby of mine now.

AmeriCymru: Can to tell us a little about your experiences at the Uniontown children's home?

Janet: From what I can remember from The Children's Home, is that we were like a large family. We were cared for as their own children. We had play time, school time, meal time and went to Sunday School together. We all played together and everyone seemed to get along. I don't remember any family coming to see me. My twin brother and I wee placed in the home together so we were always together. We had been separated from the whole family once we went into the home. So we only had each other.

AmeriCymru: Care to tell us more about the Morris family reunion in 2003?

Janet: When I arrived at the Morris Family Reunion in 2003, you would have thought I was never separated from the family. Morris is my biological mother's maiden name. I had met a cousin on Facebook and about a week later I was ask if I would like to go to the reunion. I said I would love to. I was told it was a potluck dinner. So I brought a cake that said Morris Family Reunion 2003. When I walked into the pavilion everyone greeted me just like family. I had the best time of my life. When I explained to everyone who I was they said your part of the Morris family. I have thought about this quite a bit and realized that is my mother's blood line and that is the connection. I wish I could explain to you what I felt. Even though my mother's has been gone for years it is like I am still connected.

AmeriCymru: Where can people go to read your blog online?

Janet: I started a blog recently and here it is. www.janetlmancini.com

Finding My Life Through The Children's Home

I would appreciate it if you would read it and comment. If you have any questions please feel free to ask me.

AmeriCymru: What's next for Janet Louise Mancini?

Janet: My next step is to have my book published this year. It is my hope to help someone who is thinking of starting their search for roots and to not be afraid of what you will find. You will find good and bad but you make the best of it, decide for yourself how it will affect you and move on.

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of Americymru?

Janet: I feel very blest to have had the life I have been given. It was my biological mother's decision to place my twin brother John and I in The Children's Home. She wanted us to have a better life, which we did that she could not provide.

This is how I actually ended up here at AmeriCymru a few years ago, trying to search my Welsh roots. I have met and made many friends here and have learned a wealth of information about the Welch people and culture. I am very greatful for that.

Thank you so much for your time.

Janet Mancini

If so why not check out our new music video pages on AmeriCymru Basically we have arranged our library of music videos into three categories. Have fun browsing our video back numbers and rediscovering old favourites:-

Contemporary Music

Choral Music

Traditional Music

Check out our category pages and let us know if there are any tags we've missed or got wrong. Please feel free to upload any videos you think we should have but which are missing. Above all Blwyddyn Newydd Dda to all our members and readers.

Tro Llaw - a collection of 200 Welsh Hornpipes from the National Library of Wales. Robin Huw Bowen. ISBN 0-907158-25-0

This book has not been reprinted in 25 years and there is a new generation of folk and traditional musicians eager to have a copy of this book. It is very rare to find second hand copies for sale.

Another print run of 'Tro Llaw' would accommodate the needs of the new generation ... of young Welsh musicians and the rest of the popular folk world, wishing to increase both their Welsh musical repertoire and book collection, and to create a further awareness of our beautiful heritage.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION
Diolch
http://www.change.org/ petitions/ national-library-of-wales-re-pr int-tro-llaw-200-welsh-hornpip es-by-robin-huw-bowen-1987