Helo unwaith eto. Welcome to A Word From Wales- a weekly newsletter about Wales for the Welsh Disapora, wherever they may be in the world. It’s a brief digest of some interesting stories/events in Wales over the past week. In this edition, an American plans a mission walk around Wales to raise awareness about Cymraeg, a crowd-asking experiment for a new book and independence back on the agenda in Scotland gives us fresh hope in Wales.
Phil Wyman- looking ahead to his language mission tour of Wales
On the Road to restore a language
An American who has learnt Welsh fluently, is planning a year long walking tour around Wales speaking only Cymraeg and raising awareness about the language.
Phil Wyman, who now lives in Caernarfon, will start his tour after this year’s National Eisteddfod near Pwllheli in August, walking around all parts of the nation, and finishing his journey at the 2024 Eisteddfod in Rhondda Cynon Taf.
Phil is currently mapping out his route, and also inviting people to join him for periods of time along different parts of the journey.
“I hope to speak Cymraeg throughout this journey, and raise the profile of the language during this year long tour. And meet some interesting people along the way” said Phil.
The seed of the idea has been germinating for some time in Phil’s mind, dating back to a visit he made to the museum in Caernarfon castle years ago, when he learnt about the murder of the last native prince of Wales, Llywelyn ein Llyw Olaf, and the subsequent subjugation of Wales by Edward 1.
“I was in tears reading about the story, and I made a promise to myself there and then that I wanted to do something for Cymraeg to make up for what has happenend to this nation historically’ he said.
“Years later, here we are- I’ve learnt Welsh myself and I’m now keeping that promise to myself by undertaking this language tour to promote the language.”
Phil’s interest in Wales stems from the fact that one of his ancestors, Philip Jones emigrated to America in the 1700’s, and he has been a regular visitor for some years before actually moving to live here last year.
Phil used to be pastor in Massachusetts, and is now engaged in pastoral work with the Baptist Union in the Caernarfon area.
“There’s obviously an element of mission work involved in this project as well, and I’m also interested in discovering what the spirit is saying to us in different parts of Wales at this point in time’ said Phil.
Pob lwc ar y daith Phil!
Noel Thomas receiving his medal of recognition of service by Ynys Mon Council
A crowd-naming experience
The launch of Llythyr Noel- a tale about the wrongful imprisonment of an Ynys Mon postmaster- is only weeks away.
However there’s no let-up for this ghostwriter as I now turn my attentions to writing an English language version of the story.
With the blessings of Noel Thomas and the family who are very keen for the story to be circulated to a wider audience here in Wales and further afield.
The book will be an adaptation of the Welsh-language version, including some additional information which is coming to light by means of the on-going public inquiry into the Post Office Scandal.
Everyone knows about crowd-funding- a means of sourcing money from the general public on-line in order to enable various projects to move forward.
For the title for the English-version, I decided to try my hand at crowd-naming- making use of a popular social media site to invite people to come up with some suggestions for me.
And “Mon”- which has 10,000 members- responded brilliantly to the request, providing dozens of different names.
Amongst the titles suggested were:
“ To Whom it May Concern”,
“Justice Delivered”
“Truth-Stamped and Delivered”
“Rising above the Horizon”
“A Post-modern scandal”
“The Stamp of Innocence”
“The Delivery of Truth”
“From Pillar to Post”
“The Final Delivery”
Quite a selection- and quite a headache to have to choose between the names now!
I’m very thankful to the members of “Mon” , and I’ve promised to let them know when I eventually plump for the winner.
It is hoped the English-language version will be published later this year.
Ash Regan- one of the three candidates for the post of SNP Leader
Independence back on the agenda
Independence supporters in Wales have always looked to Scotland to raise awareness about the concept of independence in general.
And as a trail-blazer which Wales could potentially follow in its wake.
But, it’s been curious how independence seems to have slipped down the list of priorities for the SNP( Scottish National Party) over the past few years.
With a number of other issues such as Gender Reform Recognition taking up much of the party’s time and energy.
However with the shock resignation of party leader Nicola Sturgeon last week, it seems that independence is very much back in business there.
Especially with the emergence of Ash Regan as one of the three replacement candidate, who is inequivocal about the need for independence as soon as possible.
Ash Regan has dropped the idea of continuing to plead with Westminster for the right to hold another referendum on independence.
Instead she has unveiled her 50% +1 plan for every Scottish Election from now on, whereby if 50%+1 of voters and seats go to independence parties- Scotland would commence independence negotiations with Westminster.
She’s named this strategy a “voter empowerment mechanism” as it will actually put the choice of when to go for independence in voters’ hands at various elections, rather than putting all the eggs again in the basket of a referendum.
It’s all quite exciting for us in Wales to watch all this pan out.
Especially as there seems to be quite a lull in any independence momentum here right now.
In our situation, there are certainly advantages involved in allowing Scotland to do a lot of the heavy lifting on independence.
As the old saying goes: “ Os na fydd gryf, bydd gyfrwys”- if you can’t be strong, be discerning.
Dyna ni am wythnos arall. See you all next week!
Aled