AUGUST 2012

Alan and I have over the years, toured mosts parts of Ireland. However, we have only passed through Dublin to the port. I'd always wanted to visit the Newgrange Neolithic tomb in the Boyne Valley. We are at an age, when we're no longer confident enough to drive around Dublin. I saw on the web that Mary Gibboms had coach trips there and had pickups at various hotels around Dublin. One was the Davenport Hotel in Merrion Square. This was ideal for us, as Trinity College's back gate was across the road and the Archaelogical Museum was a couple of short streets away from it.

We booked three nights and Mary duly picked us up as arranged on the first morning. She was a wealth of knowledge and gave us a complete potted version of the history of Ireland from the Neolithic period to the present time as we travelled along. She had prebooked an allocated time for a small group of us to enter the tomb. Newgrange is around 5,000 years old, i.e. 3,200 BC. You can look up its complete background history yourself rather than me writing at length here.

A guide pointed out to us in detail the various aspects of each part of the chamber. We were then instructed to squeeze against either side of the chamber passage wall. The light was then switched off and we were in absolute darkness. Gradually, a simulation of the solstice sunlight appeared through the light box above the dorway and crept along the floor between us until it reached the back wall area. A most awesome experience! Many of the spiral carvings are similar to ones found here on Anglesey at Bryn Celli Ddu and Barclodiad y Gawres. Legend explains the translation of Barclodiad y Gawres as the giantess' apronfull of stones falling as she flew from Ireland over Anglesey! You will notice some of these carvings and the light box above the doorway in this picture of Alan and myself.



Mary took us also to visit the Hill of Tara. This is an Iron Age hilltop enclosure with huge ditches around it. The stone on top was used to perform rituals when they elected a new King. ( originally on top of the adjacant Hill Niall of the Nine Hostages). I asked Mary who were his hostages and she said they were slaves brought over fom England and Wales. I wonder if the gang chains in Llyn Cerrig Bach had a similar purpose? King Niall of this period, was the best king Ireland ever had. It is said that he took control of large parts of Britain from the Romans. When visiting the museum we saw the bead necklace of a young male teenager who could have been a ritual offering to him at this site.

On top of the Hill of Tara

 

 

Hill of Niall of the Nine Hostages

 

The following day, we made our way to the Archaelogical Museum nearby to our hotel. I asked at reception if there was anyone who could show me where the Irish Iron Age Horn was displayed, that was similar to the Irish part of one found by my father in Llyn Cerrig Bach. The receptionist spoke on the phone and a young curator called Isabella came through. She asked how long we were going to be there as Aemonn Kelly, the Head of Irish Antiquities, was excited to hear I was there and wanted to meet me! I said we would be there until mid afternoon at least. Isabella then took us through to her lab. where we studied entry reference numbers for the artefacts I was interesting in seeing.

 

 

She guided us to see a complete Irish horn, which was magnificant. Also a number of feasting cauldrons which might have been similar to the Llyn Cerrig Bach one, which only a section of had been discovered.

 

 

Since a couple of the bridle bits in Llyn Cerrig Bach had come originally from Ireland, we saw a number of very similar ones. The small shield boss they had, I was interested to note, had been mounted on a leather covered shield.

 

 

Isabella then took us to see three different bog bodies. These were in an amzing condition having been preserved by the peat.

 





 

On my arrival home, I googled their images and came across a highly informative lecture by Aemonn Kelly on ritual bog burials - very much worth listening to, if you're interested in such things like me!

 

As it was now approaching lunchtime, Isabella led us to the restaurant. Here, Aemonn Kelly was there to meet us. He had brought the Head of Irish Tourism with him, who insisted on paying for our lunches! It seems my Llyn Cerrig Bach fame can get me anything! Aemonn Kelly was not only full of information, but also very entertaining. He told us how he'd once arrived in Australia and the customs oficers asked what was in the large long black box he was carrying. He told them, truthfully, that it contained the names of all the Irish convicts that had been transported to Australia. They asked his name and he said that at home he was called Ned Kelly! I mentioned that we'd had a marvellous trip with Mary Gibbons the day before. His reply was, that she was his wife's sister!

 



 

Before leaving the museum, Alan and I managed a quick look at their Viking displays. They have an incredible amount of gold jewellery and adornments. They also had a single neck iron slave chain which interested us.

 

Since being back home, we have continued our volunteering at Oriel Ynys Môn with explaining the usage of the various artefacts through the means of the replicas. In September, it will be the turn of various schools to come at allocated times for workshops on them. I took one of my youngest granddaughters to a workshop in making replicas at Llynnon Mill. Lloyd, the miller, chatted with me whilst I waited for Awen. He asked what had the JCB diggers been doing at Llyn Cerrig Bach all last week. Naturally, we went straight there on our way home. They whole grass verge and reeds had been taken away, exposing that part of the lake to the road. I have always wondered since speaking to Eryl Rothwell Hughes, if this was the part of the lake where my father referred to him, that he had really found the artefacts. I do hope the RAF at Valley had informed such people as Cadw and GAT of their intentions, so that someone was on site to oversee what might be unearthed?!

 

 

I was very pleased to note that the DVD on Megalithic Anglesey has been relaunched by Michael Bayley Hughes. This is an excellent account of various prehistory sites on Anglesey. It has a complete section on Llyn Cerrig Bach. and can be bought at Oriel Ynys Môn and Oriel Cemaes.

 

Sorry - this image insisted on loading sideways!









 

I had my birthday during August - weather permitting we would have had tea outside but ended up in the conservatory. We spent the time eating, laughing and joking mainly. As you can see from this picture of the females present, we are a jolly crowd and have a great time when we get together.

 



 

 







JULY 2012

I've had such an emotional roller coaster of a month due to the fact that my husband was taken by ambulance in the night three times to hospital - this happening in the month that both of us had been looking forward to for years.Thankfully, after being treated successfully the third time, I'm pleased to let everyone know that he's made a complete recovery.

On July 10th. both of us were invited to Oriel Ynys Môn to see the main Llyn Cerrig bach artefacts arriving back in Anglesey on loan from the National Museum of Wales. Alun Gryffudd, the previous Principle of the Oriel did negotiate quite a number of the artefacts to come up on display for the Millennium. However, this is the first time the most significant artefacts have been in Anglesey since the 1940's.

As I entered the exhibition area for the preview, I'm afraid I was overcome emotionally, glued to the spot for a while!  Although Bob Williams of Magma Books had invited Alan and myself a month beforehand to see a 3D model he had made of the area, it was beyond my expectation. Bob has also produced excellent information panels around the room.

Adam Gwilt, the curator of Iron Age Collections at Cardiff and Mary Davis the Head of Archaeological Conservation were there to greet us. They have by now become close friends of Alan and myself. Bob had measured exactly where the hooks had to be to hang the gang chain. Because it is on a perspex shield shape, it looks truly amazing.

The following day, Alan and I were invited again to preview the replicas that I collected funds for, which now Dave and Sue Chapman have produced. They have made them as they would have looked when they were thrown into Llyn Cerrig Bach 2,000 years ago, These are invaluable to explain the background of the find. From September Pat the Principal of the Oriel, Ceri the Education Officer and myself will be holding workshops at the Oriel for schools throughout the island.

This is a another replica of one of the swords as it would have looked when it was thrown into Llyn Cerrig Bach 2,000 years ago.

About 2 years ago, Bob Williams and his partner Phil Steele, had meetings with me to format a book that we would publish about Llyn Cerrig Bach. However, the total cost of printing a sufficient number of copies to make it a viable proposition came to £15,000. At this point, I approached Ynys Môn County Council and they agreed to finance it thankfully.

Magma Books have produced a book exactly in the format as the one I'd explained I wanted. It has sufficient information text together with associated images to make it suitably interesting to both adults and children. I was really thrilled to see the final result.

On Friday, July 13th. an evening was arranged at Oriel Ynys Môn to launch everything - the exhibition, the replicas and the Llyn Cerrig Bach book. We were honoured to have Dr. John Davies to open the evening. Pat West, Principal of the Oriel, spoke first and then I was called upon to give a few words on how I felt. There were about 150 dignitaries present, so I sat down quite releived when it was all  over!

For those not present, these were my thoughts that evening:

" None of us would be here tonight, except for two things.

The first is because of my father, William Roberts.He was the Head Groundsman on RAF Valley during WW2. If it wasn't for his knowledge and understanding of the boggy areas around the airfield and his decision to dredge them, then none of the artefacts you are about to view tonight would ever have been found. You will have to buy the book tonight to read this incredible story!

Since the designs on some compare with the La Tene artefacts found in Switzerland, they are by now world famous.I have personal evidence of this on this blog - viewers so far include most of the European countries, USA, Canada, Australia, India and even 110 from Russia.

Also. we wouldn't be here tonight either if it wasn't for the collaboration between Pat West here at the Oriel and Adam Gwilt, the Pre-History Curator at our National Museum in Cardiff. They have worked hard to bring this exhibition into being tonight.

I must also express my gratitude to Bob Williams, Magma Books for designing such an amazing and atmospheric display to house the artefacts. When I visited the preview three days ago, I'm afraid I became quite emotional.

A couple of years ago Bob and his partner Pillip Steele and myself started on the journey of getting a book about Llyn Cerrig Bach into print. john Rees Thomas on behalf of Cyngor Ynys Môn backed it financially.We have therefore, the end result in the form of an excellent book being launched here tonight.

I am immensely pleased with the end result. Bob and Phil have managed to produce a book that is not only interesting to us as the general public, but also educational to young people and school children. Exactly the kind of book I had envisaged. It is to the youngsters that we need to pass on the knowledge about their island's history.

Since retiring 20 years ago, my campaign has been going around schools, colleges and societies giving lectures on LL C B's background. I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute.

I'm thrilled therefore, that Dave and Sue Chapman of Ancient Arts, have produced a large number of replicas, which are also being launched tonight. Some of you present are representatives of those who kindly donated funds to me towards their production.  These are going to be of great value in describing the objects as they were 2,000 years ago. I have experienced how valuable the replica of the gang chain has been when visiting schools and giving presentations on LL C B. Everyone was able to handle it and I craved for more replicas.

Tonight, I've had my three wishes - I feel as if I've won the triple crown! - the artefacts exhibition, the replicas and the book - all being launched together!

I see before me here, so many wonderful friends I've made along my journey to reach this point tonight.

My father, not only left the finds of Llyn Cerrig Bach as a heritage to our nation, but something also for me and my family to be proud of. "

Diolch Dad !





There were about a 150 invited guests, so I sat down quite relived when I'd finished and then listened to the other speakers. The last to speak was the newly elected Anglesey Mayor, Robert Jones of Holyhead. I was shocked when he called me forward to receive a hologram type picture of the crescentric plaque. This was given to me jointly by the National Museum of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn in appreciation of my 20 years of dedicated work on Llyn Cerrig Bach. As Pat West remarked, for once I was lost for words! My family were there and so proud of me.

Dr.John Davies and R. Jones, Anglesey Mayor.

Alan and I have been conducting sessions twice a week on Saturdays and Wednesdays, explaining the background of the artefacts with the help of the replicas. We have met lovely interesting people and also met many old friends whom we hadn't seen for years. A lady visiting from London took this picture of Alan and me and her friend from Flintshire emailed it to us. Thank you Gill and Vicki.



Next Saturday, August 4th at 1.30pm, I shall be giving my talk on Llyn Cerrig Bach in the Tunnicliff Room at Oriel Môn. This will be entirely in Welsh, to be repeated in English on Thursday August 30th at 7.30pm.

We shall the be restarting our replica sessions again twice a week from Saturday August 11th.

Finally, this is a picture taken of me and my three lovely granddaughters making our way down to the beach on one of the few sunny days we've had this July!

JUNE - JULY 2012

This week, the Oyster Catcher restaurant and academy, built to replace the old Maelog Hotel here at Rhosneigr on Angelsey, officially opened. It is an unique building, as its the first restaurant for the German firm Huff, to erect in the UK. The whole building and its kitchen appliances, come in units ready to put together. It is a pity they rushed to meet their deadline date for opening at the beginning of the month, as I believe they had some initial hiccups during the first couple of weeks.

However, Alan and I had a lovely lunch there. I had the most tasty vegetable broth I've ever had anywhere. I was facinated, since I was able to watch through the open kichen serving area, the young trainee chefs working with such purpose and enthusiasm. The Timpson family also own The White Eagle Hotel at Rhoscolyn. They do marvellous work in supporting young people, especially the unemployed. Here, at the Oyster Catcher, through them, the eight trainees employed as apprentices, have already completed a year's training in catering at the ialand's technical college. In twelve month's time, they will move on to employment at other hotels, whilst eight other youngsters are now at the catering college and will then come as trainees on work experience at the Oyster Catcher. It is hoped that this cycle will continue for many years. The Timpsons are an incredible family. They have fostered over 90 children. They also have two factories, one for male trainee workers and one for female trainee workers. These factories are for rehabilitating offenders from the nearby prison. They are then found employment in their Timpson shoe shops. I'd be so proud of such amazing community achievements during my lifetime.  During Menter Môn's Festival month of walks and functions, I joined up with a minibus visiting various archaeological sites around the island. It was rather a wet day, but the company on board was very friendly and warm, so I ended up having a very enjoyable day. Sean Harris, the film animation producer, had joined us. I've mentioned before the animated film he made based on Llyn Cerrig Bach. Sean had brought some interesting items to show us. One was a stone axe replica, made by flint napper John Lord using Norfolk flint. Sean filmed him making it and used it in a film for Derby museum 'The Song of the Axe'. The bronze flat axe replica he had is an early Bronze Age type and was made by Neil Burridge. It shines like the sun... The pottery sherd was given to Sean by his late friend, the artist William Brown, who found it on Orkney. It is certainly early Bronze Age in origin and may be older. You can see that the decoration around the rim was made by impressing a thumbnail into the clay. I was contacted by Ben Errington, London University's Science Dept. to ask if I could meet up with them at Llyn Cerrig Bach, since they were coming there to do a scientific botanical survey this month. They were also extremely interested in the history of the lake, having viewed my webpage. We had a lovely morning together, gleaning knowledge from each other on both aspects of the lake. They have done bore holes in many boggy places, but this time they only studied the botanical environment of Llyn Cerrig Bach from a little boat.   That evening, I then went to give my presentation on Llyn Cerrig Bach to the Ladies Guild in Holyhead, which was well received. My first cousin Vera was in the audience, so we had a lovely catch up chat at the end. We're both so busy, we hardly ever meet!

July, is a very exciting month for me and my family this year, as the Llyn Cerrig Bach exhibition is opening at Oriel Ynys Môn. Also being lauched is a book, titled "Llyn Cerrig Bach - Treasure from the Iron Age". This relates fully the story and background of the artefacts that were found by my father, W.O.Roberts and his team of men in 1942. It can be bought either in a Welsh or English version, price £11.95. I am thrilled with the format of its publication, as it contains information, pictures and illustrations which can easily be appreciated by the general public and schools etc. It also includes valuable contributions by archaeologists and other specialists.

Pat West, Principal officer of Oriel Ynys Môn, gave this inspiring release to the press this week. It wets the appetite of everyone to go and view for themselves this exciting exhibition.
"The artefacts are not only there to be seen and admired, but to fire the imagination of the viewer, providing a connection to people who lived on Anglesey over 2,000 years ago. The display will include a splendid shield mount, various chariot parts, a gang chain, part of a cauldron,, a sickle and blacksmiths' tongs.
Many of the most significant finds included in the exhibition have never previously been displayed on Anglesey. Only the most durable parts of the Iron Age objects have survived. Reproductions of some artefacts have been made, to show how they would have originally looked and have been used". These will be available in the gallery to handle and talk about, between 1 - 3 pm daily, throughout the school summer holidays".

The exhibition opens for public viewing from Saturday July 14th. until mid November.

Finally, after threatening to give up on my blog writing, Martin, my son in law came over to save me last night, when all my entire entries had disappeared, as I thought. On doing a couple of clicks, he brought them back to life thankfully. He then pointed out to me that it was in the UK that I had had over 2,000 blog viewers, but that I had also - 926 in the USA, Romania - 269, Germany - 130, Russia - 110, Canada - 75, Australia - 70, Poland - 47, France - 43 and India - 41. I was amazed! You never know, some of these interested people might turn up at the exhibition on Anglesey! You are all welcome - CROESO I BAWB - see you there if I'm around.

PS Just remembered, I am giving my presentation on Llyn Cerrig Bach at Oriel Ynys Môn at 1-30pm on Saturday August 4th in WELSH and at 7.30pm Thursday August 30th in ENGLISH.  Hwyl fawr - Eflyn.

MAY - JUNE

MAY - JUNE 2012

At the beginning of may, Alan and I went on a cruise around some of the Canary Islands. Our first stop was Madeira, wher we had spent a fortnight's holiday a few years ago. We decided therefore, as it was so hot, just to visit a restaurant we liked and relaxed in the shade of a brolly to watch the world passing by. The next day we docked in Santa Cruze, Tenerife and went on a coach ride up to Mount Teidi. We saw the Garzia rock formations and the volcanic chimneys uncovered by years of erosion - very impressive. There was a cable car that took you to the summit of the mountain - but there was no guarentee that it would bring you down again! This was because the mist fell so quickly. We decided to give it a skip as it would take four hours to walk down, by which time our ship would have sailed off without us!

The following morning we docked at Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. We travelled by coach all the way to the south of the island. The landscape was very monotonous, according to Alan, it was just like driving through an everending quarry. We did have a nice lunch break in one little bay called Porto Mogan. The bourgeinvilleas over the arches looked amazing. The other small creeks we saw were at the bottom of steep cliffs, with apartments perched all the way down each side of them. Some it seems had sand imported from the Sahara in order to create a small beach!

Our favourite island, from the ones we visited, was Lanzarote. Here, the landscape was awesome - created from different periods of volcanict eruptions. We had a camel ride up the Fire Mountains. These were made up of volcanic dust, but looked just like the sand hills we had camel rides on in Egypt.

We were then taken to a volcanic area where you could peer down a hole in the ground and see the burning lava at the bottom only about three feet under us! They then demonstrated pouring water down a metal pipe into the ground. This erupted then in the form of a geyser with a massive bang.

Following this, we were given some sweet potatoes that were cooking over a grill above another open hole in the ground. Following this, we visited a vineyard for some wine tasting.

One of the nicest features of Lanzarote is that there are no buildings higher than two storeys allowed in the villages. Wish this had been applied on Anglesey years ago! This is due entirely to them taking the advice of a wonderful man named Cesar Manrique. He has produced all kinds of sculptures around the island and even built his house over lava bubbles, creating all kinds of fascinating underground rooms in it. After his death in 1992, his house has become a museum, open to the public. Near the coast is a cave complex that he has carved a theatre, swimming pool and night club into! Due to our walking difficulties, we were unable to visit this area. Do enter his name in a search engine for the full story this wonderful man.
                           
Whilst on board during one of our at sea days, I organised an informal gathering for any U3A members who might be amongst our passengers. Alan and I were pleasantly surprised when 23 people turned up! We had an excellent meeting, with everyone in turn stating which U3A they belonged to and what lectures and activities they organised. The groups around London had about 4,000 members, which naturally they had to split into various groups according to their interests. This was the case with many other large groups also. Our Anglesey group has 120 members. Since we meet every week, about 60 is the normal attendance. This means that we have become very close social friends also, which is really nice. For anyone over 55 who might be interested, we meet at 10.15 every Friday at St. Ffraid’s Hall, Treaddur Bay, unless we have an arranged outing. Our website is: http://u3asites.org.uk/anglesey

Later in the month,, Alan and I enjoyed a visit to Cardiff. The weather was beautiful so we went by waterbus from the castle to Mermaid Quay in Cardiff Bay. Here, we enjoyed a lunchtime concert by local school children at the Millennium Centre and then caught the bus back to outside our hotel. Since we’d never been to the Millennium Stadium, we went on an organised tour of that another day. The young guide was excellent but with a strong Scottish accent!!?
One evening, we went to St. David’s Hall to Karl Jenkins’ concert. In the second half he played his new composition “ The Peacemakers”. It was amazing, especially with Côr Caerdydd and Howell’s school children choir blending so well with the orchestra.

Of course our visit to Cardiff wouldn’t be complete without a visit to see our friends in the Archaeology department at the National Museum. This time, we had the pleasure of seeing Mary Davis at work in the Conservation Lab. She had put up X-rays of some of the Llyn Cerrig Bach artefacts for us to see. The museum had bought a new small X-ray unit that it was possible to link up to her laptop. With this she could analyse the metallic content of each item she x-rayed.

Mary had also set up the small tongs under a microscope for us to see in detail. These will be amongst a large display of Llyn Cerrig Bach artefacts
coming up for display to Oriel Ynys Môn. This exhibition will be open to the general public on Saturday, July 14th. I am really excited about this!

 Finally, I must commend all those who worked so hard to make sure that our village of Llanfaelog had a proper community celebration for the jubilee. There were activities of all kinds going throughout the afternoon on the green in front of the Hall. Since it was such a beautiful day, chairs had been placed around for those needing to sit to watch the activities and enjoy a tea and cup cake. They included such things as displays by Dog Handlers, a magician, limbo dancing, volunteers in stocks! etc. Two lovely young men played background music on steel drums. At 4pm the children sat down at tables laid out just likethe old traditional street party ones. To finish off, they were all presented with a commemorative mug.          Congratulations therefore to ALL the organisers!

The Anglesey Walking Festival has been going for thirteen years by now. I was asked to meet the walkers as usual at Llyn Cerrig Bach, RAF Valley, on its first day. Thankfully, the lovely weather was still with us then, so we had a good crowd of nearly 30 walkers turning up at the lakeside. After my talk, Ian Simms, the local RSPB warden guided them around the area to study identify various flowers and birds.  

The format of creating a blog entry has changed again! I'm the kind that refuses to read instructions but carry on blindly with the longer method of trail and error. Its been a real trial therefore getting this blog to look reasonable! Hence the terrible gap at the bottom I can't delete! - Eflyn

                                                   

                                                   

APRIL

My Easter lunch treat from my husband was to one of my favourite Bistros. This is the Harbour Front Bistro situated behind the Maritime Museum at Holyhead. It is in the old lifeboat station and we were lucky enough to get a table by the large window that used to be the doorway through which the lifeboat was launched years ago. In front of us was the Breakwater built from local stone which was completed in 1875 and opened by King Edward V11. This provides shelter for all kinds of boats during bad weather. However, when we were there, it was a lovely sunny day with a good breeze, so that we were entertained by the comings and goings of the various yachts in front of us. It is advisable to book, especially during the evening. You can peruse their menu on their website: http://harbourfrontbistro.co.uk

We are very fortunate that one of our recent U3A members has set up a website for us namely; http://u3asites.org/anglesey This now gives an insight into all our society’s activities each term. He is a railway renovation enthusiast also and has set up a very interesting webpage for the Joys of Life, Bethesda, where he is a volunteer. Joys of Life, is set in a lovely valley landscape. It is an especially good venue to take children to as they can have rides on the little trains. You can view a list of their Open Days on “Joys of Life Railway” website. Alan and I went to visit various art exhibitions during “Open studios” fortnight. The one we enjoyed immensely was to Jayne Huskisson at Dothan. Jayne produces beautiful vivid, uncluttered silk framed paintings based on local landscapes. If you prefer, you can but framed prints of the originals or even Greeting cards. My husband, being an artist, was highly interested and impressed with her work. My favourites were the beautiful machine-stitched appliqué work which she then used to make such things as book covers etc. and also quilted throws. You can often see Jayne’s work exhibited at various Anglesey and North Wales venues. Her website is : jayne@angleseytextileart.co.uk Examples of her work seen here are an appliqué - The 'Sails on The Menai Straits' and the other is a collection of silk paintings called 'Four Coastal Birds at Anglesey’ Lighthouses'

 My first visit relating to the story of Llyn Cerrig Bach this month, was to give my presentation to Age Well at St Cyngar’s church hall in Llangefni. Quite a number of old acquaintances came up to me at the end for a chat, which was lovely. I met also, the famous Welsh author, Mair Wynn Hughes, from Pentraeth. She has written about fifty books in Welsh for children and
young people. It was a nice surprise a couple of mornings later, to receive three of them from her by post, as a gift for my grandchildren. You can buy her books on Amazon.

My second visit of the month was to Kingsland School in Holyhead. This is quite a large school now. The Headmaster, Mr Tristan Roberts, had asked me before Easter if I would give the talk to two groups. Of course, I completely forgot about this, so when he said, “timed that well – you’ve 5 minutes before you start with the next group”, I asked would he press the rewind button on me first! As you can see from the pictures, it’s an extra pleasure during these visits to see the reactions on the children’s faces.

Following a request from two nice young men, Mike & Kenny, who power blasted our patios this weekend, I am putting their info. on my blog for others who may need similar work done. They have set up a business doing this and also car valeting. - Soap and Shine at the Cyttir Rd. Industrial site in Holyhead, around the corner from TJ’s) - 01407 764 860. Finally, this year’s Anglesey Walking Festival booklet is out. You can pick up a copy from the Tourist Centres on the island or from their website: www.angleseywalkingfestival.com There are loads of interesting walks and activities arranged,so do book early. I shall be giving a talk by Llyn Cerrig Bach on Saturday, June 2nd 9.30am - (WALK 2). On the Monday evening of June 11th at 7.00pm, at the Valley Hotel, ( Entertainment 2 I shall be giving a presentation on - “ The Iron Age Discovery in Llyn Cerrig Bach lake on RAF Valley in 1943”.

FEBRUARY - MARCH

I’m afraid that I’ve had to condense two months material because of being so busy, which is great for someone who has retired like me! It has become time for the local schools to study the Celtic period once more, so I’m in great demand to give my presentation on Llyn Cerrig Bach. Also I was invited to the Ladies Trefoil Guild at Benllech. Alan has produced more almost perfect copies of some of the artefacts. His collection now includes the bronze plaque, the shield boss, a votive sword and a piece of currency bar. However, I still go to Oriel Ynys Môn to borrow the replica of the gang chain and then have to take it back again. In order to save me doing this, Alan has decided that his next challenge will be to make a a good copy of the gang chain! A task that will take him quite a time to complete I should imagine.
These are pictures of Rhosneigr school children with some of Alan’s work and Ysgol y Tywyn studying them.



Our Wednesday Archaeology group is still 100% attendance most weeks. This reflects well on our tutor Rhys Mwyn’s ability as an interesting lecturer. One of the friends I’ve made is a Polish lady called Dana. I had been given a book to read by my daughter Delyth by Joy Mawby from Benllech. This was about a young girl being evacuated from Warsaw to Siberia during WW2. One Saturday evening this month I was at a play in Ucheldre, Holyhead when I met Dana and she introduced me to her cousin Joy Mawby, The book Joy had written was about Dana’s mother! It is called “Footsteps to Freedom” and an incredible read – I could hardly put it down. She based the story on the diary Dana’s mother had written which is kept in the Polish Archives in London. Joy has since written a second book, “Broken Warrior”. This is about Dana’s father’s experiences during the same journey. You can visit her website for details - www.jomawby.co.uk .


I still enjoy my walks along the Llanfaelog side of Llyn Maelog, especially with my granddaughters. However it became very wet and muddy where a little stream enters the lake. I e-mailed a picture of the area to Arwel Evans of the Paths and Highways. Thankfully he has solved the problem by diverting the stream through a pipe and the area is drying up nicely now.These are before and after pictures.

I still enjoy my walks along the Llanfaelog side of Llyn Maelog, especially with my granddaughters. However it became very wet and muddy where a little stream enters the lake. I e-mailed a picture of the area to Arwel Evans of the Paths and Highways. Thankfully he has solved the problem by diverting the stream through a pipe and the area is drying up nicely now.These are before and after pictures.





After our lecture in Llanfairpwll, Alan and I decided to go for lunch to Tŷ Golchi, Tudur Owen’s new restaurant venture. The food was excellent and the place was very well supported. Many like ourselves regard Tudur as our favourite TV comedian. We had been close friends with Tudur’s parents from when they ran the restaurant at Glantraeth, Bodorgan and we had also been members of Operation Friendship together. This is an organisation that allows teenagers from Wales to exchange holidays for a month with teenagers in American homes. Both my daughters visited America twice, whilst we enjoyed welcoming American youngsters to stay with us on alternate years.



On March 23rd, I took a group of over 30 members of the Anglesey U3A to Newborough. First we visited the newly refurbished John Pritchard Jones Institute. We were taken upstairs to a large room to have our talk. It is possible now to book this room for concerts, dances etc. Here, we were given an excellent talk on John Pritchard Jones’ life by Enid Mummery, one of the centre’s twelve trustees. He was born in 1841 and brought up as one of seven children in a cottage in Newborough. He became an apprentice draper in Caernarfon, then Yorkshire and finally in London where he eventually became the partner of the large department store in Regents St – Dickins & Jones. Consequently, he became a very wealthy man. He decided to donate large sums of his wealth back to his local community by building the Institute and six alms houses. It was he that financed the Pritchard Jones Hall at Bangor University which is named after him. He became Sheriff of Anglesey and was also knighted.




Amongst the varied rooms at the Institute there is a unique Cotgrave library system.
There is only one other in the UK and its worth a visit to see just this. Pritchard Jones donated all the books to the library and he used to top it up each time he visited from London. It would take too long to mention everything we saw, so my advice is to put it on your list of places to visit this summer. There is a café there during the summer season, from 11am to 6.30pm.Tues – Sun. Many walkers to Llanddwyn make use of this facility. We as a group had an excellent lunch there provided by Arlwyo Môn, run by Menter Môn. (booking for outside catering by them phone Wendy on 01407 840940.



After lunch, Rhys Mwyn took us along the road to visit Rhosyr.


This is an archaeological site which was unearthed by Neil Johnston in 1992. This is where one of the Royal Courts of Prince Llywelyn the Last was sited. Another is unfortunately buried under an estate of houses in Aberffraw. Edward 1 came here when he was surveying the kingdom he had defeated. Lots of the masonary and wood he transported over the Menai Straits to use in the construction of Caernarfon Castle. Edward built the castle at Caernarfon on top of the old Welsh castle that was there previously. For a full insight into the story of Rhosyr you can watch an excellent DVD at the Institute.