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Please join us in beautiful Niagara Falls, Ontario, for a very special weekend celebrating our Welsh heritage, music and culture.
This year we are very honoured to have the renowned
Bois y Castell
from the Tywi Valley in Carmarthenshire, Wales as our guest choir, with their conductor, Nia Clwyd.
In addition, we will have all your usual favourites such as a welcome tea with harp entertainment, a traditional noson lawen with loads of talented participants, childrens activities, poetry reading, seminar , a banquet with a presentation of the annual Gold Award, concert afterglow and two glorious hymn singing sessions.
For more information please go to
www.ontariowelshfestival.ca or e-mail us at
publicity@ontariowelshfestival.ca or phone 613-725-2704
Download the flyer (.pdf) here or click on the image below.
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Follow the whole nine yards here (a 95 part series) :- Half Marathon Blog
Why I am running:- West Coast Eisteddfod Bryn Seion Church
For details of how to sponsor see this post
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I was amused, while reading the 'marathon running' section in Google news to find this article:-
Running the Big Sur marathon ... on a treadmill
You'll need to read the article to get the full flavor but this quote should give you the gist of it:-
The aim is to give people better options than standard TV to liven up their cardio workouts. Runners at health clubs that have the equipment can opt to virtually run the Big Sur marathon and other simulated race events.
How long before we will be able to run a marathon on specially adapted bar stools with pedals and big TV screens for scenery and ambience? And all while enjoying a few pints of our favorite tipple.
Given that this ideal is not achievable yet I must continue to circle the veggie patch in my efforts to 'fitten' up for my ordeal on July 4th. I hope to be able to report that I have broken the 30 minute endurance barrier shortly. Thirty minutes may not seem like a long time to some of my readers but at age 55 after leading a sedentary lifestyle for the last decade, it's quite an achievement
I apologise to anyone who was awaiting the appearance of the sponsorship 'widget' over the past two days. I have been distracted by the necessity to develop a 'one stop shop' event page for the West Coast Eisteddfod. Thankfully that has now largely been achieved ( still a few bells and whictles to add ) and the sponsorship widget will not be far behind. It should be in place by the end of the month and the serious fundraising Gaabi referenced in her introduction to this series, can commence.
Anyway I'd better click 'Publish'. I'm trying to get this blog online tonight before SJ posts a reminder
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URGENT!!!!!!!! THE WEST COAST EISTEDDFOD NEEDS YOUR HELP! PLEASE READ AND CIRCULATE!
By Ceri Shaw, 2011-11-08
Quick Guide
Go here:- http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/263243673-mlmef click 'Vote and Share' include a message appealing to your FB friends to vote as well. PLEASE REMEMBER TO CLICK 'VOTE AND SHARE' AND NOT JUST THE LIKE BUTTON.
More Info
In 2010 the Meriwether Lewis Memorial Eisteddfod Foundation in association with AmeriCymru participate in the the Chase Community Giving contest on acebook. On that occasion we fell short of making the top 100 by JUST 30 VOTES!!!
This time around we are hoping to make the top 100. BUT we can only do so with your help!
Heres how the prize money is awarded:-
THE WINNER recieves $250,000
THE NEXT FOUR charities each recieve $50,000
THE NEXT 95 each recieve $25,000
We esimate that we will need between 2 and 3 thousand votes to qualify. It's a tall order and there are no guarantees BUT with your help we might just do it.
IN order to vote all you have to do is go to this page:- http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/263243673-mlmef or click on the graphic below, like the app and click 'Vote and Share' Dont forget to add a personal appeal to your friends for their support before you share' PLEASE REMEMBER TO CLICK 'VOTE AND SHARE' AND NOT JUST THE LIKE BUTTON.
OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP
1. Email, IM or phone your friends and appeal to them to vote. Remember to tell them that it only takes a second and that all money raised will got to bring Welsh artists and performers over to the US for the West Coast Eisteddfod 2012. This is the most effective method ( particularly IM'ing people on Facebook when they appear in your chat panel ). Use any materials from this blog ( and the others we will be putting out periodically ) to make a standard email to circulate to all your friends.
2. Use the graphic link and or text link from our voting page to embed on your website. This links directly to our voting page.
A THOUSAND DIOLCH'S IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR SUPPORT. WE CAN DO IT!!!!! CYMRU AM BYTH!!!
PLEASE REMEMBER TO CLICK 'VOTE AND SHARE' AND NOT JUST THE LIKE BUTTON.
ROBIN FRIDAY: THE MOVIE -WEBSITE
AmeriCymru: You've said that you saw Robin Friday play, where and when was this and what do you remember about it?
Mike: It was the Cardiff v Fulham game. It was not known but Robin had been arrested by S. W. Police having travelled down from Reading for his debut ( he had travelled on a platform ticket). The game was to star Bobby Moore and Georgie Best both playing for Fulham and a huge crowd came along largely to see them play. Best cried off with an injury ( probably more a night on the tiles) and Robin took over the game scored two great goals and ran the World Cup Captain ragged.
AmeriCymru: Were you aware of him and his reputation before you watched him play?
Mike: Yes he had almost single handedly dragged Reading IP from Div 4 the previous season but his reputation preceded him.
AmeriCymru: You've been described as a "lifelong fan of Cardiff City league" and you ran a youth football/soccer club in Los Angeles, it seems inevitable you'd be involved in a football film. Had you always wanted to tell a story of Robin Friday?
Mike: It was one of those memories that was re-triggered by the publication of the book The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw which I optioned.
AmeriCymru: How did this film come about, who read the book and decided "this is going to happen?"
Mike: My co-producer Mark Ambrose and then he found me a besotted fan not particularly known for live action movies.
AmeriCymru: What do you hope to communicate to audiences with this film, what do you want them to take away from seeing it?
Mike: It's not a "soccer" film more a film about a guy who lived his life the way he wanted to and dammed the consequences. As it says in our blurb "the rest of us didn't have the balls"!
AmeriCymru: Will we be able to see it in the US?
Mike: Yes certainly. The casting which I cannot reveal here will help it. The movie is an edgier cross between "Billy Liar" and "Crush".
Mike Young
ROBIN FRIDAY LINKS
Robin Friday on the Bleacher Report
".....When the team meeting was called just before the team left for the match a disheveled Friday showed up still naked but carrying a swan that he had procured from a nearby lake!"
The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw: The Robin Friday Story
Musical Tribute: Super Furry Animals
Goal machine Dixie McNeil was a star football striker whose career spanned three decades. Dixie played the beautiful game at Leicester, Exeter, Northampton, Lincoln, Hereford and Wrexham. Top goal scorer of all four divisions in the Football League in 19745 and 19756, he played against some of the best sides in the land and in Europe. Hero-worshipped at Wrexham FC, he spent nine years there as a player and later as their manager.
His new autobiography, called Dixie charts his life in football from those early days as a youngster in the star-studded Leicester squad, which included Gordon Banks and Peter Shilton, to management at Wrexham FC. Following his release from the First Division club, he then joined Exeter City and made his Football League debut at Wrexhams Racecourse ground in August 1966. After Exeter and a stint at Corby Town, he signed for Northampton Town and played in the famous FA Cup tie against Manchester United when George Best replied to Dixies goal with six of his own. He then moved to Lincoln City and, after finishing top scorer in the Football League for two successive seasons, he asked for a 5 a week pay rise and was promptly put on the transfer list by Graham Taylor. He then signed for Hereford United and, with 69 goals, helped the side gain promotion to the Second Division for the first time in their history. But after one season, Hereford United was relegated and Dixie was sold to Wrexham FC for 60,000.
As well as charting the glorious years of Cup and League success at the Racecourse, where Dixie helped the team into the second tier of football, Dixies book gives a humourous insight into life behind the scenes and also marks the differences between the game today and the game in the 1970s. Dixie also comments on the present-day struggles at Wrexham FC.
Dixie certainly mixed with some of the footballing greats. In his foreword tothe book, Graham Taylor, former England Football team manager writes of him, As a player his career record is there for everyone to see: 239 goals in 522 appearances speaks for itself. John Sillett, former Hereford United and Coventry City manager, comments, He had that great ability to score goals, but also good touch and vision and a wonderful understanding you were one of the best signings I ever made.
Dixie McNeil will be signing copies of his autobiography at Ellesmere Books, ELLESMERE on Saturday 26 November 1112.30 and at Waterstones, 1820 Commercial Street, HEREFORD on Saturday 10 December from 11 a.m and at Waterstones, WREXHAM on Saturday 17 December, 122p.m.
Y Lolfa Cyf., Talybont, Ceredigion, CymruSY24 5HE
ffn 01970 831902
www.ylolfa.com
c y h o e d d wy r a c a r g r a f f w y r
Today, Wales U18s took on Australia School's Rugby at the Gnoll in Neath, to a sell out audience this was a taster to Wales playing Australia next weekend at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. One little boy called Bleddyn Lloyd (aged 10) who plays for Neath Athletic got the chance to get on the pitch and become ball boy for the game, this was only his 2nd international game he had been to after he witnessed Wales beat Argentina last week, after Wales won the game 18 15 Bleddyn was proud and is now telling everyone he know's he is a Wales ball boy and is planning on carrying on this until the day he is also picked to play for Wales.
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Follow the whole nine yards here (a 95 part series) :- Half Marathon Blog
Why I am running:- West Coast Eisteddfod Bryn Seion Church
For details of how to sponsor see this post
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Not much to report on the running front today. I did go for a brief trot around the turnips earlier on and I am keeping up my training schedule. Still struggling with the demon tobacco although I have cut down to a couple of cigarettes a day. 'Cold turkey' hasn't worked for me yet.
This is probably as good a time as any to reflect on one of the reasons that I am running...the West Coast Eisteddfod. We have been promising to release details of the program for some time and today we delivered on that promise. Here is the main event daytime schedule , subject to the usual ongoing revisions, emendations, alterations and clarifications , we are still nearly six months away from the event after all
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WEST COAST EISTEDDFOD 2012 LIVE EVENT BUY TICKETS HERE!
Performance Schedule (subject to revision)
4.40-5.40 pm Doors open ( program TBA )
5.40-6.40 pm Storytelling Competition
Competitors: Julia Strozyk + five more. You?
6.40-7.10 pm Halley Weaver 'Halley the Harper'
7.10-8.10 pm Poetry Competition
Competitors: Anatoly Molotkov + five more. You?
8.10-8.40 pm Sexbomb 'America's Hardest Working Tom Jones Tribute Band'
8.40-9.40 pm Comedy Competition
9.40 pm Announcements Live and Online Competition Winners and Lovespoon Draw
10.00-11.00 pm Chris Chandler 'America's Best Kept Secret' In Concert
West Coast Eisteddfod 2012 on Facebook
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Many of you will have seen this schedule already. If not, it lives on this page ( the official WCE 2012 Event page ):-
http://www.storyforgestudios.com/americymru/directory/events
-:and we are appealing to people to help spread the word. Please help us to publicise on Google+, Twitter and Facebook. There is a Facebook page linked above and there are G+, FB etc buttons on the Events page itself.
I will have much more to say on the subject of funding for the Eisteddfod soon....and running too
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