Cymru am byth - we love Wales!

[meic]

I struggle with Wales and Welsh people. I occasionally try with it again and again. I've discovered some bits I've enjoyed but they've been on a day trip out of Shropshire. Maybe my experiences have been unfortunate.
1957 :A weeks holiday in Llandudno and it rained heavily every day.
1972: A college advisor was working closely with my flock at the time. She was from Sth Wales and was friendly enough. One day she had her mother with her. Both could speak English but the whole visit they spoke Welsh to each other. Fair enough it was their language but I couldn't help but find it off putting.
1976: I read "I bought a Mountain" by Thomas Firbank. Inspired by the book we set off one day to visit Snowdon and see the farm. First stop was a shop in Conwy to buy stuff for a picnic. It was obviously ' a local shop for local people' and we couldn't get out fast enough. Second stop, a heavily puddled gravel are, for a picnic. A miserable farmer type turned up and wanted 40p for the pleasure. Third stop we thought we'd take the kids up the mountain railway until we saw the price and the wait. Thankfully there was a cheaper one along the flat.
2005: A bike ride got me to Connaghs Quay.Found a cafe and I didn't think I looked that odd but I'm sorry now to have troubled them.
2016: Had the caravan at Chirk and I was beginning to warm to the area. Best pork pies ever! However a visit to Chirk castle altered things slightly. We walked in from Chirk arriving a back way and bypassing the Car Park. A very Welsh lady met us and insisted we must have walked past a sign. No matter how pleasant I tried to remain she was adamant. Even to this day I doubt she would admit she was wrong. I double checked my facts on the way out.
So I hope you can see,from the experiences I've had, my point of view.
I'm going to stay near Chepstow in a few weeks time ......fingers crossed

Relax a bit and it will be okay. Mostly English around Chepstow anyway!

I've lived in South Wales, near Bridgend, for about 26 years. Very little Welsh is spoken down here.

.. .

It's a bit different at the "top" of Wales. The people are friendly if one bothers to pronounce the place names properly. And more Welsh is being spoken in the south, all the children learn it in school

I dont agree with that, apart from certain areas with bilingual or Welsh medium schools they are merely taught Welsh but do not learn it.

[pwa]

Here in the Bridgend area, where Welsh is rarely heard on the streets, there are "Welsh medium" schools where Welsh is the main language, and the children going to them are mainly from families that have little or no Welsh spoken at home. These schools are the minority here, and the kids get bussed in from a wide area. Most kids go to schools where English is the main language, though they still learn Welsh. My daughter took it to A Level and got quite good with it. You might ask why anyone would want to learn Welsh if they live in an area where it is rarely spoken, but there is now a distinct advantage in Wales to having Welsh in your list of skills when it comes to applying for jobs. And a lot of young people would like to be able to continue living in Wales. It inspires a loyalty similar to that experienced by a lot of Yorkshire folk for their home county.

[meic]

and the children going to them are mainly from families that have little or no Welsh spoken at home

For the same reason that the Catholic Schools are full of heathens, it is a form of selection.
It doesnt matter on what grounds you have selection, the very act of selecting out the kids who's parents dont care is effective in dramatically improving the educational environment.

Of course my kids go to a Welsh medium schools, the selection only exists at secondary level as all of the Primary Schools in my area are Welsh medium. The difference in the attitude and ethos of the two secondary schools is quite pronounced, I think the average wealth of the parents is probably fairly different too. Never even considered paying for my son to go on the £3,000 (almost week long) school trip to New York, or the annual ski trip etc....

[pwa]

I agree that schools that involve a distinct element of choice by the parents, whether for language, religion or whatever, are going to have better motivated kids. They are the children of parents who are thinking about what they want for their kids and are involved in their education, rather than just sitting back and accepting whatever is the local default education. In the other "default" schools you still get kids like that, but they are mixed in with the children of parents who are less involved and less pushy. So faith schools and Welsh medium schools have fewer problem children. A bit generalised, I know, but basically true.

[Cyril Haearn]

Men of the hills, wantoners, men of Wales,
With your sheep and your pigs and your ponies, your sweaty fe-males.. [R S Thomas]

+1

[pwa]

Men of the hills, wantoners, men of Wales,
With your sheep and your pigs and your ponies, your sweaty fe-males.. [R S Thomas]

+1

That should boost Welsh tourism!

[meic]

Local sheep for local people!

[thirdcrank]

IIRC, the CTC did set up a Welsh forum which never got going and was quietly ditched. Perhaps the conditions are favourable to give it another go?

[meic]

I am not sure to what extent you could say that "The CTC" set up the CTC Cymru forum.
It was down to a few Volunteers and the take up was minuscule. After a few years it was folded due to total lack of use.
I regret to say that it showed Wales is too small in numbers and we are too close to England to not be straying over the border for a lot of our riding and likewise a lot of people I ride with have drifted over from the other side themselves.

In Audax it was just as likely for those wearing the Audax Cymru shirts to be riders from England who have completed major Welsh events as to be Welsh Audaxers.

Riders in Carmarthenshire have closer to links to Bristol riders than Llandudno riders.
Riders in Llandudno have closer links to Chester riders than Carmarthenshire riders.

[Cyril Haearn]

Cofio Tryweryn!

[Cyril Haearn]

Cofio Tryweryn!

Remember Tryweryn! It is a valley near Y Bala that was flooded to regulate the flow of the Afon Dyfrdwy to supply Liverpool with water

[pwa]

Cofio Tryweryn!

You are showing your age now!

[thirdcrank]

(Twice)

Cofio Tryweryn!

With apologies to meic , who's heard it all before

Nid wyf yn y swyddfa ar hyn o bryd. Anfonwch unrhyw waith i'w gyfieithu

[reohn2]

I love the Welsh countryside and it's people.
North Wales is just an hour or two's drive away,beautiful.......

[karlt]

(Twice)

Cofio Tryweryn!

With apologies to meic , who's heard it all before

Nid wyf yn y swyddfa ar hyn o bryd. Anfonwch unrhyw waith i'w gyfieithu

Efallai y byddai Meic yn mwynhau/Meic might enjoy https://www.flickr.com/groups/scymraeg/

My Cymraeg isn't anything like good enough to get all of these.