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Welsh actor Matthew Rhys has bought the fil rights to 'Operation Julie' . Read more here:- Matthew Rhys buys Operation Julie film rights
Read our interview with Lyn Ebenezer ( author of 'Operation Julie' ) here:- Ten Questions with Lyn Ebenezer - Author of 'Operation Julie'
Read our review of Matthew Rhys's new book 'Patagonia' here:- Book Review: "Patagonia", Matthew Rhys
Hello my name is Valerie. I live in Myddfai, a tiny village in The Brecon Beacons National Park, in rural Wales and I need your help!
Sky TV are looking for an 'Icon' for their new learning channel.
I am a member of the Women's Institute who are organising the competition. I entered this competition and now I am in the top ten!! There are only 2 finalists from Wales and if I won it would really help my village.
My company is, Grandma's Stories Ltd and I write fun educational books for children & adults who are learning Welsh. We will have a Welsh language site when resources allow. The Big Plus is that, with the 10,000 first prize, we could launch our new not for profit company 'Learn with Grandma' properly and set up a dedicated website.
Please vote for me and ask your friends to do so too!
This is vital. Myddfai is such a tiny community there is no way I could muster the sort of support someone from a large community could attract. Especially at such short notice.
HOW TO VOTEVoting will be on the Daily Express website starting on Thursday 18 September until Sunday only. Click on the link to vote
So not much time to get those votes in! Please will you forward this to your friends too.
God BlessValerieGrandma's StoriesTo all our members,readers and followers. Whatever you do today have a great day and be safe and well.
If you have a second please vote in our poll below and help someone win a free palce for two on the Celticos/AmeriCyru Trail Tour ( winner to be announced tomorrow )
Results so far:-
It is with regret that we announce the departure of former member SwanseaJack. He has been a regular feature on the site for about 18 months and he will be sorely missed. He left as a result of irreconcilable differences over the future direction this site should take. The decision to leave was entirely his.
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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A couple of people have asked me recently why it is that if I was once capable of running for 13 miles I never entered a half marathon event before. There are two reasons for this. Fistly I was never that fast and consequently in no danger of winning. Secondly I like to run mainly in order to 'dissociate'.
It's been a while since I considered exactly what that term means and so I decided to google 'running dissociation' and see what the search turned up. A blog from The Running Laminator posted in 2008 pretty much sums it up:-
One of the things I like to do when Im running, especially after a long day at the office, is to work out problems and resolve issues that I didnt have time to attend to during the day. In fact, its become a habit of mine that as Im lacing up my shoes in anticipation of a run, Id pick out one or two problems to specifically work on while I run with the intention that Id have the answer by the time Im back in my apartment. Its becoming clearer to me, more and more, that I am a dissociative runner (as opposed to an associative one).
You can read the rest of the post from the link above. Of course if you are looking to dissociate and solve the days petty problems while you run there are two main preconditions. You will need to be physically comfortable and as free from distractions as possible. You will achieve the first condition by regular training and the second by running solo as far away from other people as possible. Repetitive late night circuits around playing fields or deserted athletics tracks are ideal for this purpose.
SO....running in an event will be a new experience for me. There will be people cheering and showering us with water etc. Hopefully I will be able to ignore it all and lapse into a running trance and attempt to solve some petty detail of WCE financing or resolve some code issue on the site.
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Arfon Williams was born in LLanrwst North Wales and attended Ysgol Glan Clwyd St Asaph,Ysgol Cymraeg from 1972 to 1977. He joined the army in 1977 and served with the Ist Battalion Welsh Guards. In 1985 he joined the Merseyside Police. He has served with the CID and will be retiring in July 2012 . Arfon has written and recorded two albums :- "I Still Dream" which is distributed by ACM Records ,New York and "Time Should Wear A Hat" which is available through all major digital distributors. One of his songs "Solitude" was donated to the Welsh Guards charity album.(Welsh Guards Reunited). AmeriCymru spoke to Arfon about his career and his future plans.
AmeriCymru: When did you first start song writing? What inspired you?
Arfon: I started playing the guitar after purchasing one off a fellow soldier in 1980.Although I am not the best guitarist I managed to play enough chords to start writing songs.I was bought up on the Welsh folk songs of he 70's.Dafydd Iwan ,Tepot Piws etc After the army Paul McCartney tunes inspired me as I could see how songs were being structured.
AmeriCymru: You have played in several bands over the years. Care to tell us a little more about them?
Arfon: By chance colleagues in the Police needed a lead singer for their soul band around xmas 1994,They had heard i could sing a bit as i would often get up on a stool at our rugby club at Hoylake and give them a rendition of Faith by George Michael.The band was a soul band and my first gig on stage was at a caravan site in Rhyl on New Years eve.It felt brilliant!!
AmeriCymru: You have written and recorded two albums. What is the story behind them and where can our readers go to hear/purchase them?
Arfon: The first 'I Still Dream' is mostly love songs ,broken hearts and quite dark although they may appear to be up beat.This is for sale at itunes and most digital sales sites.readers can google 'I Still Dream by Harry Williams .This is signed to ACM records New York..
AmeriCymru: One of your songs "Solitude" was donated to the Welsh Guards charity album.(Welsh Guards Reunited) Can you tell us more about the song and the album?
Arfon: The second album 'Time Should Wear a Hat ' is also sold via the internet.This Album is less dark and features jazz/swing style tunes.'Central Park New York ' seems to be a popular download but 'Solitude' does well for hits also. Solitude was written about Amy Winehouse and her then boyfriend.They had not seen each other for a while and I wondered what either would be thinking whilst waiting in a hotel room alone waiting for the other to arrive.It was very sad that Amy Winehouse left us so young.
AmeriCymru: Your song "In This Town " is featured in the 2007 film "Happy Holidays" by New Jersey film producer James C Ferguson. How did it feel to hear your work played on the 'big screen'?
Arfon: It was the oddest thing hearing 30 seconds of one of my songs in a scene on a film.The tale of how it got there is quite amazing. wrote the song whilst walking up the hill from Dolwyddelan to Blaenau Festiniog in the summer. I wanted to write an upbeat tune and got to thinking about being back in North Wales.and past memories...." When I'm in this town .I think about you .....la la " By the time I walked back to my sisters home I had written it in my head..I told her I needed a pen and quickly wrote down the words....I recorded it in the same week,I sent it off as I have done many of my songs in answer to a request for songs via the 'Bandit Magazine.Within two weeks of writing the song I was emailed asking if it could be used in the film...2 weeks!!...I'd been sending songs off for years..It just happened like that and i was thrilled!
AmeriCymru: One of your songs entitled Baby I Love you is being re mixed by German record company ."Soundofnow" . Any word on a release date?
Arfon: The release date for the first mix is the 12 of January 2012...In the name of 'Erick Maconda' this is the name we have chosen for the act.The mix is by the 'Future polar bears.Two further mixes with full vocals will be released later in the year.
AmeriCymru: What's next for Arfon Williams?
Arfon: I retire from the Police in June and plan to sing full time and do some more writing
AmeriCymru: Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?
Arfon: Hi All Have a great xmas break and a happy new year.
Arfon: Please feel free to e mail me anytime...about any of the songs and good luck with everyones endevours in 2012....Diolch yn fawr am gwrando.Nadolig Llawen and Blwyddyn Newydd da i chi i gyd.
Arfon
Wales Favourite Bad Boy Rediscovers His Welsh Roots - A Review of 'Two Dragons' by Howard Marks
By Ceri Shaw, 2010-12-03
This book opens dramatically with a description of a major cardiac incident resulting in hospitalization for the author. Thankfully the attack was survivable and we move on rapidly to a description of the rather stressful lifestyle which produced it.
For anyone who doesn''t know who he is, Howard Marks a.k.a Mr Nice a.k.a Marco Polo , born in Kenfig Hill, South Wales is one of the world''s most notorious and successful drug dealers. In a career which spanned the 1970''s and 1980''s he moved vast quantities of cannabis around the globe and became one of the most wanted international criminals in the USA. Eventually apprehended in 1988 he served seven years in the infamous Terre Haute Correctional Facility in Indiana. Upon his release Howard left dope-smuggling behind and rapidly transformed himself into a best selling author and media personality. Recently his first book ''Mr Nice'' was made into a film starring Rhys Ifans in the title role. Would be viewers in the US will have to wait as it has, as yet, no US distributor. Howard Marks is now regarded as a folk hero by many in Wales and this book finds him exploring his Welsh roots with surprising and fascinating results.
Howard Marks genealogical researches reveal that his great great grandfather was Billy the Kid''s brother. He also establishes that he is distantly related to the infamous Welsh smuggler William Owen whose previously unknown autobiography was discovered in 1982. Marks says of him that:- "...his chronicle of scams, acquittals and debauchery would put any modern day smuggler or playboy to shame." Additionally there is a Chicago mob connection. We learn that Howard is related to Willie Bevan Marks. At one point in the book his aunt Afon Wen informs him that:- "...., your great-grandfather Dafydd''s brother, became a notorious Chicago gangster, He was Bugs Moran''s first lieutenant. I wasn''t a bit surprised when you became a famous smuggler. Not a bit"
The book has its more serious and reflective moments. Recalling a subsequently cancelled BBC project to produce a biopic based on his life the author observes that:- "...opinions vary when people consider whether criminals should benefit indirectly from their offensive behaviour." He goes on to point out that:- "I am still making money writing and talking about my past criminal adventures, and I am having a wonderful time." Wherever one stands on this issue I believe that Mr Marks deserves kudos for having raised it and for demonstrating an acute awareness of the moral dilemma which his post incarceration activities pose for many people.
The title ''Two Dragons'' reflects the books true theme. The contrast between the Wales that Howard Marks hated as a child and couldn''t wait to get away from and the modern Wales which he has returned to. Overall he takes an optimistic view:- "But now, the country is alive. One giant cauldron of musical talent, mysticism and enthusiasm" This view is balanced by a rather stoical, if defiant, observation made elsewhere in the book:-"No doubt the bad times will come again. But we are aware of that and we know ourselves. A few centuries of English force-feeding isn''t going to change anything as going through slavery and imprisonment is an integral part of growing up."
In the final chapter we find Howard Marks returning to his former globe-trotting ways. But no longer to facilitate megaton shipments of cannabis. This time he is visiting the former haunts of his boyhood hero Henry Morgan, former buccaneer and Governor of Jamaica. The account of his visit to Henry''s final home in Llanrumney, Jamaica is a delight to read . In particular it is fascinating to reflect that a labyrinthine series of caves underneath the site may contain vestiges of Captain Morgan''s fabled treasure. Howard is pictured at the site standing next to a large stone inscription which reads simply - ''Cartref'' ( home ).
All in all there is so much in this book, and so many further fruitful avenues to explore, that anyone with a love of Welsh history would be foolish to deny themselves the pleasure of reading it. There can be no hesitation in giving the book a five star rating and recommending it as the perfect christmas gift for anyone with a taste for lovable ( and not so lovable ) Welsh rogues.
