Was St Patrick Welsh?

It is believed that Saint Patrick was born c. 387 and died 17 March c. 460.  The Anglo-Saxons  referred to the indigenous Britons in areas not under their control as "Welsh" which comes from their word "waelisc" meaning, foreigner, or not one of us, so when we describe St Patrick as Welsh, it means, he may have come from an area including Strathclyde, Northumbria, all of modern day Wales or Cornwall and parts of Devon.

We do know that he was born in the Romano-British town of Banna Venta Bernia, but we do not know this town's location, many suggest it was in the Severn valley or St Davids, but there are also convincing suggestions that it may have been Ravenglass in Cumbria or in Strathclyde.  We also know that he came from a wealthy family, Calpornius, his father, was a deacon and, his grandfather Potitus, a priest, but there is no evidence that as a youngster Patrick was particularly religious.  Roman influence at this time was waning, in fact Wales had been virtually abandoned in 383 and Irish raiders were taking the opportunity to attack the undefended towns and take prisoners to use as slaves.   

When he was about sixteen, Patrick was captured and carried off as a slave to Ireland, probably in County Mayo, where he spent six years working as a shepherd and turned to his Christian religion for solace.  It was then according to his writing, a voice, which he believed to be God's, spoke to him in a dream, telling him it was time to return to Britain.  He escaped by walking 200 miles to the coast and taking a boat back to his homeland, where he began religious training.  After his ordination as a priest, he was sent back to Ireland,  to minister to Christians already living in Ireland and to begin to convert those who were not Christian.

On this day, 2012 Wales won their eleventh Grand Slam 

FEBRUARY 5th                                         Ireland 21 - 23  Wales 

FEBRUARY 12th                                      Wales 27 - 13  Scotland 

FEBRUARY 25th                                     England 12 - 19  Wales 

MARCH 10th                                              Wales 24 - 3  Italy  

MARCH 17th                                              Wales 16 - 9  France

Born this day, 1943 in Ebbw Vale

Jeff Banks - who is a designer of clothing, jewellery and home furnishings.  He is perhaps best known as the creator and presenter of the BBC television programme The Clothes Show.  

The Iconic film "Grand Slam" was first aired on BBC this day in 1978.