March 2016

Dear me – another lapse in not writing my blog due this time to a bout of chronic anxiety. Never suffered from this before, but for five months a lack of self confidence kicked in. Through Mindfulness, I’ve managed to overcome it thankfully without medication.

My first venture back to my old confident self was to my old college, the Normal College Bangor during the mid 1950’s.I had a most enjoyable day, being part of a team accessing students.

Our old, dark dining hall had now been revamped into a highly modern Business & Conference Centre with conference rooms and overnight accommodation which anyone can book. The old Alun hostel next to it was where I had Room 135 for two years 60 Years ago! I was on the 2nd floor. I still have a vivid memory of having to go down to the communal kitchen in the basement with my little frying pan and various cooking ingredients. It was dark down there, and the light switch was on the far wall. As I walked tentatively in the dark, I could feel and hear the cockroaches crunching under my feet. As soon as I switched the light on, they scurried in all directions, disappearing under the cupboards! Once, one had made its way upstairs into my bed.

 



I wonder if any of my co-residents at Alun Hostel, Bangor Normal College between !955 - 1957 are on Facebook? Would love to make contact. I'm on the extreme right under the window( Evelyn Roberts at the time). Jean Millward, extreme right at the top, my best friend in college, and I, have kept in touch all these years, although she lives in Cheshire.

 

Next, I was back again giving presentations in the community on Llyn Cerrig Bach.

I was then asked to give a talk to Pencarnisiog older children about the background of why the Welsh people took the offer of moving to Patagonia in 1865.

Pencarnisiog Top Class Primary School children - you'd find difficulty spotting me if I was wearing a red shirt.

I also showed them a Powerpoint presentation of various pictures taken on my visit whilst staying with various Welsh families as we travelled around Patagonia. My favourite visits whilst there were to the Infant school and the college AND A Welsh tea in Tŷ Nain. I also attended the Eisteddfod, a Welsh chapel singing festival and went whale spotting!

 

 

I’ve just spent two days of fun with friends last week in Cardiff. At the same time though, it was highly educational. This was in the company of my “Cyffro Celf” co-members class of appreciation of Modern Welsh artists. This is held through the medium of Welsh and is for fluent learners and Welsh speakers. Brenda Jones, our tutor, arranged for us to have the honour of meeting the artist Ivor Davies whilst his exhibition “Silent Explosion” was on display at the National Museum in Cardiff. We spent two hours enthralled, listening to him explaining the background of how his paintings came about. Tecs, Brenda’s husband, who is a notable artist himself, had come along with us.

Of course, in the evening, we had to finish off the day in an Italian restaurant to celebrate the occasion.

On the second day, like most others, I went back to tour the rest of the museum. I saw a small temporary exhibition of objects, mainly replicas and copies of artefacts associated with the Indiana Jones film. Also the artefacts found in the Viking graves at Llanbedrgoch, Anglesey. I was lucky enough to witness their discovery on the day!
The Prehistory Gallery, my favourite haunt, has now been dismantled and all the Llyn Cerrig Bach artefacts are now in storage in the basement. They are to be housed in a building at San Fagan that will hopefully be completed in two years time.
It was a very odd feeling for me to be visiting the Museum for the first time ever, when they hadn’t been on display for 70 years. Somehow, I don’t think I’ll have the same incentive to visit there as often again. Another tragic thing for me is, that I hear of people that have travelled there specifically to see the Llyn Cerrig Bach hoard, only to find they’ve had a fruitless journey!

 

I’m proud to say though, that the bronze crescentic plaque has been part of the Celtic display at the British Museum in London and has now arrived in Edinburgh until September 26th. This only emphasises how important the Llyn Cerrig Bach artefacts are regarded.



 

I think I need to have tuition in writing a blog as they seem to change the format each time I log on to make an entry. It takes me longer to work it out each time - I don't think I should blame it on my age!