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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



AUGUST 2015

I’m afraid that things didn’t work out at all well as I’d planned in 2014.

Alan became ill and sadly died unexpectedly that June – hence the big lapse in my blog entries.

Over this period, I’ve been so blessed with family and friends that have kept me going.
Various followers have since been trying to encourage me to re-start my blog, but the spirit refused to move. However, here I am at last, due to one faithful follower, Tom Carpenter, making me shake his hand last night and promise to re-start it. I’ve been so blessed with family and friends that have kept me going.

One thing that I’ve loved doing each week, is meeting up in Will’s Bar (Oyster Catcher, Rhosneigr) with my Panad and Sgwrs group of Welsh Learners. As you can see, one even won the Bardic Chair in the Welsh Learner’s Eisteddfod in Caernarfon.

These are mainly incomers to our area, who also contribute in so many other ways to our community, which is brilliant. I’m afraid, like they also state, it’s the bought empty properties that have taken the heart out of our community.



 

In April, I had a most pleasant surprise email from my CADW friend, Marion Blockley, to say that the Interpretation boards I’d been begging for, were actually completed and on their way to be placed by Llyn Cerrig Bach. Marion and I had emailed each other backwards and forwards planning it all, so I owe her so much for making my dream come true.

 

 

The first group to meet up with me there for their talk were the Anglesey Walking Festival walkers. This I have done for 12years now! It was a thrill to see my father’s picture on one of the boards, together with a copy of the letter of thanks he had from Sir Cyril Fox, verifying the fact that he was the finder of the hoard.

I then met up there after with the older children of Bodedern Primary School.

This was a great pleasure as they all listened intently and asked sensible question. It was lovely to be back amongst children again like in my old times around the schools. Had lots of pictures taken, but unable to include as permission still not had from parents and school.

 

My next step back in confidence was to give my Powerpoint presentations. The first was in April to a lovely group of WI ladies in Newborough through the medium of English.

 

 

 

I then ventured on my own to Felinwnda in Caernarfonshire. This was a challenge also, due to having to give it through the medium of Welsh, where they speak a much purer Welsh than mine! It was also to a Historical Society, so I was very wary of what questions I might be asked at the end. However, they were so very appreciative with their comments at the end and thankfully had no questions I couldn't answer!

I felt very uplifted in finding my way back to being able to do things on my own again, having lost Alan’s constant support on such occasions. However, his replicas of the main artefacts were very much admired, especially as they are made to the true size.

 

 

 

Never satisfied, my next request to Cadw was to have copies of the Interpretation Boards as posters at Anglesey Airport. The airport is based immediately across the road to Llyn Cerrig Bach at RAF Valley.

Here, I arranged to meet up with the Anglesey County Council Head of Highways as he is also in charge of the airport. Dewi Roberts, a lovely gentleman met me on site and he agreed that I could have the use of a display panel both in the foyer lounge and in the departure lounge!

My good friend Marion Blockley of Cadw then put me in touch with Dave Penberthy in Cadw. He and Dewi managed to co-ordinate it all by email and hey presto, today I went to see them in situ.

My sincere thanks to them all for a super pre-birthday present!

 

Success thankfully - not easy remembering how to do this after all this time. Also I forgot that I had to re-size all the pictures before downloading them!

 





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

December - January 7th

December flew by with a hive of Christmas feasting and activities. These involved attending such things as a show at the Galeri Caernarfon, kid’s panto at Ucheldre, school concert, soiree at Gorwel and Fiona’s plus two after Christmas family birthday celebrations.

 However, like others on the West coast of Anglesey, we suffered severe gales and high tides. The video which my friend Rob Phillips took of the storm at Treaddur Bay near us is amazing. This is the result that we witnessed when we took a walk along the prom there at the weekend.

 

The force of nature!

 

 Now back to the real world which I also enjoy so much. Things that I get involved in with Llyn Cerrig Bach and also promoting various places I visit on Anglesey. Wow – pleased to see I’ve reached 11,127 views of this site by now.
 

The highlight for me happened last night, when Neil Oliver presented the programme I’d enjoyed filming with him last June at Llyn Cerrig Bach and RAF Valley.

 

 

Jonathan Barker, BBC2 Director giving me a rest from filming to have a hug from Neil.



 

Neil mentioned my father by name and pointed out that some of the artefacts he’d unearthed were the most important Iron Age ones ever found in Britain. The whole episode was a truly brilliant tribute to him and made me feel very proud. If you missed the programme, maybe you can see it on iplayer or catchup. It’s called “Sacred Wonders of Britain” – a series of three, the last one next Monday at 8.30pm.

 

Now the schools have re-opened, my diary is filling up again with my talk visits, the first one being to Beaumaris. I love being back in the classroom with the children. Maybe I’ve entered my second childhood!

 

 

 

 



 

November - December 2013

 

I had a pleasant surprise when I visited Llyn Cerrig Bach a couple of weeks ago.

Following my site visit with Colin Edwards, the Anglesey County Council’s Highways Principal Engineer, the growth each side of the entrance has been cut well back. As you’ll have noted in my August blog, this had to be done in order to comply with the road safety requirement before the council would allow Cadw to place an interpretation there.  As you can see in the pictures, the grass verge has now been cut way back behind the commemorative stone. I’m looking forward now to Cadw being able to place their interpretation board. According to Marion Blockley of Cadw's description, the design sounds really exciting.

Before

After cutback

 

Fiona, Gorwel and I took Awen my 9 year old granddaughter with us to a performance by Catrin Finch and Seckou Keita at the Ucheldre Centre, Holyhead. Catrin Finch is our world famous Welsh harpist and Seckou is from West Africa and plays the Kora. This African string instrument blended beautifully with the harp. They both also gave solo performances. Although we were sitting in the front row, Awen sat forward on the edge of her seat in awe throughout their performance.

 

The Ucheldre Centre is one of our gems on Anglesey. Their programme appeals to a cross section of the community. You will see from each of their three monthly programme, that they have world famous performers, local talented artists, literary and music societies – the list goes on and on!
Visit their website for yourself or phone them up for a mailed programme. I must also mention their lovely café with food baked freshly each day. Scrumptious cakes!
                                                 www.ucheldre.org  Tel:  01407 763361

You can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Another very useful site on Facebook is - Môn – Dewch i Chware - set up by Siwan Owens, Menter Môn. I’m always perusing it for ideas to take my granddaughters to.

                        Facebook:     Môn – Dewch i Chware    by Siwan Owens

 During school half term, Siwan advertises numerous activities for young and older children to attend on Anglesey, both indoors and out. This time, I chose to take them to the outside activities arranged at the Breakwater Country Park in Holyhead. Fishing and wall climbing!

 

 

 



 

 This lovely park takes its name from the fact that the limestone to build the breakwater was quarried from this side of mountain. Engineering artefacts during its construction are displayed all around the site. There are also interesting historical information panels relating to its construction. The breakwater is 1.7miles long, was completed in 1873 and officially opened by Albert Edward the then Prince of Wales. This summer, Prince William and his wife Kate came there to start off the “Ring of Fire” Anglesey marathon. This race is organised by James Bingham, whose parents run the excellent Sandy’s Bistro in Rhosneigr.  I used to teach both James and his brother Edward at the local primary school. Between them, they have raised loads of money for charities doing incredible extreme climbs, including Everest. Their parents must be really proud of them.

 

 

Everest summit

 



               www.anglesey-hidden-gem.com/holyhead-breakwater-country-park.htm   

                    The park's latest addition is an on site café -  telephone 01407 760530.

 

 

 Next month, I hope to have some interesting news to relate regarding the launch of the comic about Llyn Cerrig Bach by illustrator, John Swogger.



September - October 2013

Wow – what a pleasant surprise – I’ve been waiting to see my blog views reaching the 10,000 mark when I’ve noticed tonight that they’ve suddenly jumped to 10,384 views!

Due to the Autumn term restarting, requests are beginning also for me to give my presentation on Llyn Cerrig Bach, both in schools and the community. I really enjoy these, as very often I meet up again with old friends in various parts of the island. Alan always attends when he can to help me set things up for the talk. Our first visit this term has been to the Senior Club in Llangefni, where we had a very warm, homely welcome on a cold afternoon.

 

Alan with his replicas and a few of the ladies present.

I'm afraid that this is all the news this month on Llyn Cerrig Bach so I will put my input once more on the places we enjoyed visiting on Anglesey 

 

I’m ashamed to say that Alan and I hadn’t visited Oriel Tegfryn in Menai Bridge since many a year. By now at our age, we’re wary of turning into difficult places to park. For this reason, Oriel Tegfryn  had always been such a place as it is situated on the main busy road the Beaumaris end of Menai Bridge. However, on this occasion we ventured forth and were immediately pleasantly surprised to see a huge car park in front of us! This is hidden from view from the road  by a tall wall.  No worries ever again!

 

 The Tegfryn Art Gallery was established in 1963 and is one of Wales' oldest galleries and has a long and respected history. Tegfryn has exhibited all of north Wales’ leading artists including William Selwyn, Gwilym Prichard and, most notably, had a very close association with Sir Kyffin Williams over many years.

 We had a very warm welcome from Sara the receptionist. She explained that it was mainly monthly solo exhibitions on the main ground floor gallery. The other two gallery floors had constantly changing exhibition of paintings, prints and sculpture. They have also a large stock of work in store, which can be viewed on request.

Tel: 01248 715128 if you want to double check or visit tegfryn@artwales.com

 

The day we called, we were fortunate that there were large collections on display of art by Peter Prendergast and Mary Lloyd Jones RCA. You can even register on a Collectors Plan which allows you to pay for your purchase by instalments - with no added interest!

Another highlight visit this month was attending an evening performance at Theatr Fach, Llangefni. Each term, they alternate with producing either an English or Welsh drama. This time, it was “Leni” an award winning drama in Welsh that had been translated into English. The actors were all magnificent in their respective roles.

 Cymdeithas Ddrama Llangefni is an amateur dramatic society, active from 1942. In 1955, its secretary, George Fisher (1909-1970), a schoolteacher, founded Theatr Fach Llangefni. The company received financial help from the British Arts Council. The theatre organises drama festivals, and is a member of The Guild of Little Theatres.

Although situated in Llangefni, many people find it difficult to find or even are not aware of it. This is why I’ve mentioned it on Facebook and Twitter as it’s a little gem. Directions can be found on the web.

Sorry, this other visit is on the opposite side of Afon Menai and not on Anglesey!
This month, I decided to organise a full day’s visit to Bangor University (North Wales) for many of our University of the Third Age members – Ynys Môn/ Anglesey U3A. u3asites.org.uk/anglesey
‎
I felt it would benefit us all to become better acquainted with various departments and facilities. This will then hopefully instigate us to make  use of such things as its Archives and Library. Also, hopefully, for some to enrol on various further education courses that they have on offer.

As it was a full day, it took me and Sian Peris Owen, the College Manager of Arts and Humanities, a lot of organizing via numerous e-mails. I owe her immensely for such a successful day. She had even arranged for Dr. Andrew Edwards, the Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities to give us a welcome address on arrival.
 

 

 

A big thanks also to Ffion Lisk, the Events Coordinator of The Business Centre situated across the road in the old Normal College hostels.  As I entered the quad, I had happy memories of my time in Alun Room 135 in 1955 -57.

Ffion had prepared a lecture room for us to have a presentation from Einion Thomas, the College Archivist. We were given an insight into the background history of various historical documents which they hold. One was a letter signed by Hitler, with a fascinating story of how it finally made its way to Bangor.

 

 

We then made our way through to the “1884” Brasserie, where there was a lovely view to be had of Anglesey over the Menai Strait. The old hostel rooms have become modern accommodation for the general public to book. Many people visiting Snowdonia and Anglesey stay here. The Brasserie caters for the general public also and has an enticing Christmas menu on offer.  Everyone praised the three course lunch which we had.

 



We also enjoyed a delightful pre-lunch musical recital, which again Sian had organised for us.  Dr.Guto Puw kindly gave of his time to bring a group of his students over from the University’s Music Dept. We were all in agreement, that their standard of performance was brilliant and that they have a bright future ahead of them.

 

Vote of thanks with an anecdote included!

 

After lunch, we attended more presentations.  One was on the history of Graffiti by a PhD student, Aimee Pritchard. Two others followed by Proff. Helen Wilcox and Dr.Rachel Willie from the English Literature Dept. These were all light and informative, finishing with an interesting questions and answers session.  

 To finish off our day, Sian Peris Owen took us on a guided tour of the main University building. Sian explained the background story of the John Pritchard Hall, Ed Povey’s mural in the Powis Hall, the college chamber room, and the library etc. It was all new to many of our members although a number of us had attended concerts and degree ceremonies in the halls. All in all, it was a brilliant day, thanks to all the staff that helped me make it a success.

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and benefited educationally at the same time. This fitted perfectly the ethos of the U3A namely “Learning through Pleasure”.

 

 

 

It was half term school holiday last this week, so I took my granddaughter to an art workshop at Oriel Ynys Môn. It was arranged by Ceri Williams, their Education officer, hosted by “Britain from above” The art tutor was Catrin Williams. The children did not sit at a table for the two hours in the lecture room. To begin with, they were instructed how to form a sketchbook from an A2 sheet of drawing paper. Then they were taken on a guided informative tour of various parts  the History gallery. Here they chose what they liked most and sketched it. They then went to the Main Art gallery to view Elfyn Lewis’ exhibition. These were really colourful and appealed immensely to the children. Eflyn describes his process as “volcanic” Surfaces are layered with acrylic paint that drips or flows over the edges of the canvas, creating wonderful imaginative abstract paintings. I was lucky enough to see a film taken of him at work in his studio before I went which added to my appreciation of his work.

 On returning to the lecture room, the children were distributed with various black and white aerial photographs of Anglesey. They chose one to sketch onto a large drawing cloth, incorporating their history sketch into it. We as parents and grandparents accompanied the children throughout the two hours. Not only did my granddaughter learn such a lot but I thoroughly enjoyed myself also.

 

 

 

Look out for these school holiday workshops for children at Oriel Ynys Môn. They are advertised in the local press, Facebook and on Twitter. Oriel Môn has its own Facebook page now. At the moment you can access also by going to “events” on  www.kyffinwilliams.info

However, very soon I believe, the Oriel will have a new title to their website – www.orielynysmon.info

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

August - September

 

It was my birthday at the end of August so we had a family get-together to celebrate. A massive birthday cake appeared, with an image on top, of me holding the Llyn Cerrig Bach gang chain. Someone had been hacking into my Pictures folder! Here I am with my three lovely granddaughters ready to cut into the cake.

 

 They also took me to the idyllic Llanddwyn Beach on a beautiful sunny day. There is this an intricately carved sculpture at the beginning of a board walk to the beach. The board walk allows people with walking difficulties or with children in prams to be able to enjoy the amazing  views across the bay towards the Lleyn mountain range and even Bardsey island on a clear day.

 

 

 

Delyth, my eldest daughter, piloted a project to establish a Trim Trail through part of Newborough Forest. It was nice to see so many people making use of the facility in order to keep fit. This is the first of many challenges to attempt. A great idea to have a gym in the fresh air.

 

 

I was very surprised to receive an email from a gentleman in Melbourne, Australia who has been following my blog. I am constantly surprised to notice how far flung some of my blog followers are around the world. His name was Earl and he was hoping I could take him to visit Llyn Cerrig Bach and also Barclodiad y Gawres chamber. Some of his ancestors were from South Wales, but he’d chosen to learn North Walian Welsh! His emails always began and ended always in Welsh. My family were rather worried about me meeting someone I'd never met and off the internet! My son Gorwel therefore accompanied me to Barclodiad y Gawres chamber and my husband came with us to Llyn Cerrig Bach. However, they needn’t have worried, as he was an extremely nice gentleman.  Since I live so close to Barclodiad, I was able to bring Earl back home for a light lunch with us.  We enjoyed a long interesting chat about the pre-history of Anglesey. Earl’s wife had been thoughtful enough to parcel a lovely gift for me with her own handmade Thank You card. Hopefully, they will both be able to visit us in the not too distant future.

 

 

 

Following on from my visit with Marion from Cadw regarding getting interpretation boards  placed by Llyn Cerrig Bach, I was able to arrange a site visit with Anglesey County Council’s Highways Principal Engineer, Colin Edwards. This was because the overgrowth each side of the entrance had to be cut back in order to comply with road safety requirements.  Both Colin and I were pleasantly surprised to meet up again since it turned out I was his Infant teacher many years ago! He has grown a lot since then and I've shrunk!

 

 

I realise that my profile states that my blog is about happenings relating to Llyn Cerrig Bach and various interesting places I’ve visited around Anglesey. However, I can’t help mentioning the thrill I had this month when I was able to see the Mold Gold Cape. It had come to Wrexham Museum from mid August to mid September. First, we walked along a passage and then came around the corner to a completely darkened room. In the centre was the gold cape, displayed in a lighted glass cabinet (you can see a reflection of the back of the cloak on the glass in my picture). Like everyone else there, I just stood in awe before taking a walk around the cabinet.

 

 

In 1833 workmen dug up a skeleton with bits of gold stuck to it whilst excavating a burial mound near Mold in Flintshire, North Wales. Because of the amber beads that were buried alongside, they think it must have been worn by a notable young woman. All the pieces were sent to the British Museum where after painstaking work they were fitted together like a big jigsaw. Due to the pieces of bronze along the inside of the neckline and a small bronze knife, they were able to date the cape to around 3,700 BC.

 

Our Anglesey Heritage website has its own address now and is also interactive. Hope you'll peruse it and also register on site in order to interact with us. As I wrote the Llyn Cerrig Bach page, I shall be mainly responsible for responding to comments and attempting to answer any questions about Llyn Cerrig Bach.

www.angleseyheritage.com