21ain ganrif yng Nghymru
21st Century Wales
thanks to Carolyn Adkins and Wales Online
On August 6th, the internet celebrated its 25th
birthday. It might never have happened
without Donald Davies, a man from Treorchy.
He created “packet switching”, the process of
sending large amounts of data across the
world by breaking it up into smaller bits which
independently move through a series of
networks. The innovation meant expensive
long-distance phone calls were no longer
needed to transfer data, and laid the
foundations for the internet we use today. It
began with a single machine in Switzerland
and is now made up of more than 600 million
websites around the world.
Born in Treorchy in 1924, the son of a pit
clerk, Davies showed touches of genius while
obtaining a doctorate in physics at Imperial
College London. During World War II, he
worked on the Government’s top-secret
nuclear bomb research which would later be
subsumed into the US’s Manhattan Project.
He was a pioneer in digital computing while
working in the UK’s National Physics
Laboratory. He picked holes in a paper on the
Enigma code. Davies developed early
computer games in 1949 before advising
banks and MI6 on computer security issues.
But the ground-breaking concept of packet
switching was his most lasting legacy. Davies
was appointed a Distinguished Fellow of the
British Computer Society in 1975, and made a
CBE in 1983 and a Fellow of the Royal
Society in 1987. Davies died in May 2000,
leaving a widow Diana, a daughter and two
sons.
You can send your Bywyd Cymreig items,
suggestions, and comments to Evan Ash at
[email protected]
Bywyd Cymreig - Welsh Life
The St. David’s Welsh Society of Greater Kansas City
Sut ydych yn ei ddweud? –
How Do You Say It?
thanks to Heather Ash
For those who are or become patrons of the
Mid-Continent Pubilc Library, you can access
Pronunciator a brand-new online learning
resource for the whole family that can help you
learn more than 80 languages – including Welsh
- through interactive programs including 30minute online teacher-led sessions. This online
resource is for adults and children. Check it out
at
http://www.mymcpl.org/online-information/
research-databases/Foreign+Language. Access
does require a library card number.
Cyhoeddiad yr Iaith Gymraeg Arbennig Special Welsh Language Announcement
thanks to Ann McFerrin
Carwyn Wycherley, of the Welsh Government’s
Welsh Language Unit, sends this message:
I am contacting you to draw your attention to the
fact that the Welsh Government is currently
consulting on a draft Welsh language strategy
which outlines the Welsh Government's vision of
reaching a million Welsh speakers by 2050. You
can read the draft strategy and have your say
on its content on our website here at
https://consultations.gov.wals/consultations/
welsh-language-stategy. The closing date for
The St. David’s Welsh Society
brings together the various people of the
Welsh “village”, of the greater Kansas City
area and its environs, and their Cornish
neighbors, to celebrate the Celtic heritage
and spirit.
Membership Information
Annual Dues date - March
Individual - $10 Family - $15 Contributing - $25
Send dues to SDWS
15332 W. 82nd Street, Lenexa, Kansas 66219
Contact
Evan Ash
Larry Griffiths
(913) 768-7006
(913) 378-6547
http://www.kcwelsh.com
SDWS Board
Evan Ash, President
Carolyn Adkins, Vice President
Bob Adkins, Vice President
Larry Griffiths, Treasurer/
Doug Wyatt, Secretary
Bill Ames, Judith Brougham, Elaine James,
Ann McFerrin, Katherine Spencer, Sue Walston
Your SDWS Board welcomes your ideas for
programs we can offer to nourish your Welsh
heritage. We also welcome Cornish program
ideas to help us celebrate our Cornish friends
and neighbors. Please send your ideas to
[email protected].
_ October, 2016
Digwyddiadau i ddod - Upcoming Events
October 1-2, Arbor Lodge, Nebraska City,
Nebraska - Ethnic Festival, including our friends
at the Great Plains Heritage Project in Wymore,
Nebraska.
October 22, Saturday, 2 p.m., St. Luke’s
Episcopal Church, Shawnee – SDWS
Member Gathering, film: Valley of Song
starring Mervyn Johns, commentary by
Bad Furnish.
November 5,, Satuuday, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm,
Shawnee Civic Center, Shawnee, Kansas DBE Brit Faire, SDWS this year’s theme,
“Wales – A New ‘Green’”, Wales in the
vanguard of environmental progress..
Note: Welsh cakes to give to visitors
are requested! Contact Evan Ash at
[email protected] for details.
December 3, 2016, Saturday, at 2:00 p.m.,
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Shawnee,
Kansas - Christmas Tea, carol singing led
by Lisa Shepard, harp music by Judith
Brougham and Carolyn Adkins, and view
“A Child’s Christmas in Wales”.
January 22, 2017, Sunday, , at 2:00 p.m., St.
Luke’s Episcopal Church, Shawnee,
Kansas – Celebrate St. Dwynen’s Day,
Wales’ patron saint of lovers!
Chwaraeon yng Nghymru –
Sports in Wales
thanks to Heather Ash and BBC Sports Wales
Owain Doull won Wales' first gold of the 2016
Olympics as the Welsh rider helped the men's
team pursuit defend their cycling title in Rio.
The 23-year-old joined record-breaking Sir
Bradley Wiggins, Steven Burke and Ed Clancy
to beat the world champions. Said the Cardiff
rider, "We've been in situations like that before
when we've been so close and have lost so to
pull it off now is unbelievable." He had
previously won silver medals at the 2015 and
2016 World Championship. 23 Welsh athletes
competed in the Olympics in Rio de Janero.
Welsh medalists were Owain Doull, Men's
cycling team pursuit – GOLD; Elinor
Barker, Women's cycling team pursuit –
GOLD; Becky James, Women's cycling
keirin – SILVER; Victoria Thornley,
Women's 2000m double sculls – SILVER;
James Davies, Men's rugby sevens –
SILVER; Becky James, Women's cycling
sprint – SILVER; Jazz Carlin, Women's
responses is 31 October 2016.
Welsh Olympian Jade Jones wins second Gold
Medal, first was in 2012
Darnau Cymraeg - Welsh Bits
thanks to Wales Online
Here are 14 Welsh towns with no (English)
vowels,
Crymych
Mwnt
Bwlchgwyn
Cwm
Rhdymwyn
Plymp
Ysbyty Ystwyth
Rhyl
Bryn
Ysybty Cynfyn
400m and 800m freestyle – SILVER in
Cwmtwrch
Tywynn
each event; Sam Cross, James Davies,
Cwmystwyth
Ynysubwl.
Men's rugby sevens – SILVER; Jade Jones,
Taekwondo – GOLD; and Hannah Mills,
Must boost the sales of road maps in Wales!
Sailing – GOLD. If you were to break down
the medals by per capita population, Welsh
competitors have punched their weight more
than those of any other nation at the Olympics,
Menai Bridge in Anglesey - designed by
other than, funnily enough, their old rugby
Thomas Telford and opened on 30 January
nemesis New Zealand. That means, based on
1826 - was the first suspension bridge in the
the population of each country winning at least
world constructed to take heavy traffic.
one gold medal, Welsh competitors have won
At the time it was built it was also the
a medal for every 309,909 of the population!
longest bridge in the world, measuring 1,265ft,
Pentref mȃn siarad – Village Gossip!
second part of interview with Patricia Schultz
As for Patricia’s life growing up in the Welsh
community of Gomer, Ohio, her family was her early
world. Grandfather David Thomas Watkins,
“Tadgee” or more commonly “Tagee”, and Gee had
7 children, of which Patricia’s mother Blodwen was
the oldest. Blodwen played the piano quite well but
was always sorry she wasn’t a good solo singer.
She knew how but had not been given a beautiful
voice. Instead as a music teacher she taught others
in Allen County. An interesting note about Welsh
names: Blodwen and her sisters, Gwynfa and
Myrddona, were not given middle names because
when they married their maiden name became their
middle name.
As a child, Patricia remembers going into the
grocery store and hearing people speaking Welsh.
However, she was sometimes coached to not use
Welsh around certain non-Welsh speaking persons
– they thought you were talking about them at those
times!
Then, as it is today, the church congregation
singing in 4-part harmony every Sunday and
eisteddfods and gymanfas were regular
occurrences as part of the Welsh life of Gomer as
Patricia was growing up. And her mother
accompanied many a rehearsal in their home.
Her sister Teresa was enough years older than
Patricia to compete in eisteddfods as an alto. The
event practice was to have all altos perform the
same musical piece, chosen by the organizers.
Patricia inherited good musical genes, as did her
sister. She regularly won these solos, only one red
ribbon among all the blues. Seeing this every
morning on the bedroom mirror, it became Patricia’s
goal. But then they stopped holding the local
eisteddfods before she could perform!
Heddiw Cymru – Wales Today
A whizz kid from Llandudno has passed his
General Certificate of Secondary Education
(GCSE) maths exam...at the age of nine. Liam
McGuinness, a pupil of Ysgol San Sior, has
ambitions to become the Chancellor of the
Exchequer after passing his exam seven years
early. Teachers spotted Liam’s gift when he
was just five years old and still in the reception
class at school, where he was already doing
Year Three mathematics. The nine-year-old,
who lives with his family on the Great Orme,
was encouraged to take the maths foundation
GCSE by teachers at the Ysgol Bryn Elian
secondary school in Old Colwyn, who have
been teaching the bright youngster once a
week.
The passing of these tests means a student is
eligible to go to college. Others are slotted into
vocational or tech schools. So these tests are
critical gateways to a person’s career future in
Great Britain.
In the Bible, God made it rain for 40 days and
40 nights. That’s a pretty good summer for
Wales.
Y gegin Gymreig - The Welsh Kitchen
Thanks to visitwales.com
A famous Welsh dish originating from the 18th
century. A kind of ‘posh cheese on toast’,
ingredients vary but mostly include Welsh cheese,
ale and mustard mixed up and served on toast.
The following recipe is a basic rarebit mix, but the
application is definitely a contemporary version of
the toasted sandwich. You can add various
flavourings to the rarebit base such as herbs, fresh
chili, garlic, cooked leeks, chopped ham, and
crispy bacon or chopped sun-dried tomatoes.
with a 579ft span.
Ein ffrindiau yng Nghernyw Our Cornish Friends
An invitation has been extended to our Cornish
friends to take part in our fellowship. We are
also offering to include their heritage in the
scope of our activities so we can learn from
each other about our common Celtic
beginnings. We look forward to their response.
For the rarebit
25g/1oz butter
375g/12oz mature Welsh farmhouse cheese
100ml/4floz ale or milk
1/2 tsp mild mustard
Salt and pepper
For the sandwich
Cornwall is a region which has disputed
constitutional status within the United Kingdom
(confer Constitutional status).
18 medium size circles of bread
6 large, ripe tomatoes sliced thin
Fresh flat leaf parsley or basil
Salt and pepper
The Duchy of Cornwall shield of 15 gold bezants
(coins) on a black field. The eldest son of the
reigning British monarch inherits possession of
the duchy and title of Duke of Cornwall at birth
To make the rarebit:
Melt the butter in a pan, add the grated cheese or when his parent succeeds to the throne,
and stir over a low heat until melted. Pour in the
ale or milk, add the mustard and any other
flavouring you wish. Season to taste. Bring the
mixture up to near boiling point, and then remove
from the heat.
Poyntys Kernowek (Darnau I Gernyw [W]) –
Cornish Bits
Thanks to http://rathgowry.co.uk
To prepare the sandwich:
Either toast of fry the bread (use a little light olive 90% of Cornish place names are of Celtic origin
oil, and drain off any excess after cooking on some
and derived from the Kernewek language.
kitchen paper). Assemble a three tier sandwich
with the sliced tomatoes, herbs and seasoning
between the layers. Place on a baking sheet, pour Cornwall is larger than more than 20 UN
over a good helping of rarebit mixture and brown nations, and one of the oldest Duchies in
either under a hot grill, or in a hot oven (preheated Europe.
at the highest setting).Serve immediately.
Cornwall has about half a million people,
And as they say in Wales…bon appétit!
75,000 cows and as many as five million tourists
Caneuon o fywyd – Songs of Life
thanks to Wales Online
Wedi bod yno, gweld hynny - Been There,
Seen That
second part of interview with Ruth Jones
A Return to Wales, via Paris –
Finally, there’s an amazing new choir being set up
in Wales with one special feature - it’s for people Then on to the D-Day’s Omaha Beach
museums. Before moving on, they had to stop
who can’t sing!
in a small pub in a little town to sit with 5 locals
One woman from Cardiff believes it’s not fair that to watch Wales play England, all in French, of
people who can’t sing are excluded from the joy of course! Then they were on the Calais to catch
singing in a choir. So she’s done something about it the ferry over to Dover. Rained the whole
by organising a choir for people who are tuneless. time…reminded them of Wales, where it rained
The Tuneless Choir Cardiff, or Côr Di Dôn more! Using Oswestry, Shropshire and Ruth’s
Caerdydd, was launched in September and is sister’s home as a base, they made day trips to
hoping to hit all the wrong notes. Organiser and places like Birmingham, where Ruth and Alan
choir manager Jessica Davies-Timmins was had taught school. Family who live on farms in
inspired to set up the choir after hearing about a Powys were visited, where their children
group in Nottingham and is teaming up with Welsh enjoyed to see the animals up close. Then on to
musician Mei Gwynedd to take it forward. The plan Tywyn on the coast where Alan grew up. Sadly
is to start off with well-known Welsh songs like a trip to go by the Llanberis cog train up
Sosban Fach to build the choir’s confidence before Snowdon was disappointing because of the lack
of timely tickets that day. But during the the trip
branching out to more ambitious melodies.
to Bangor, where Ruth and Alan went to
Jessica, 38, from Barry, a freelance marketer college, and Anglesey, their daughter Ceri and
who now lives in Canton, Cardiff, wanted to emulate her fiancé were taken with the place. After a
its success as soon as she heard about it. Jessica drive on the quite winding Welsh roads
said: “I love singing, I love karaoke but I’m shocking. unfamiliar to Ceri’s fiancé, a stroll through the
My husband bought singing lessons for me but it town of Conwy was next. What was most
was a disaster. I was only doing it as a bit of fun. I’m notable for Cary’s fiancé was he had never
absolutely awful but I love it. I think you could say I seen a sheep before (Wales was the place to
sing the wrong notes at the wrong places in the come for that)! But the land of Wales was
song. There are lots of benefits to be in a choir – beautiful to him, especially around Tywyn.
you get to socialise with lots of different people. It’s
lots of fun to be able to belt out a tune with others.
It’s a way for people who can’t sing to actually sing
in a choir – it’s a way to not be embarrassed.”
University of Bangor
Diwrnod mewn Hanes Cymru –
A Day in History
thanks to Wales Online
a year.
voters. ‘In intellectual and moral force Hughes
stood head and shoulders above the timeserving politicians who might have aspired to
the nomination’, wrote Dexter Perkins in his
1956 book Charles Evans Hughes and
American Democratic Statesmanship. Born in
1862 in Glens Falls, New York, his father, David
Charles Evans, was a Baptist minister and his
mother a teacher.
This more quixotic instance of Welsh impact
lives on. The US Supreme Court is currently
showing an exhibition entitled ‘The Power of
During this time of election campaigning, our Image: Charles Evans Hughes in Prints,
attention is drawn to the candidates for the Photographs, and Drawings’.
highest office in the land.
Charles Evans Hughes, a second
generation Welsh American with roots in the
Gwên Cymraeg – A Welsh Smile
South Wales Valleys can justifiably be listed
among the best presidents America never
had. Hughes almost did become president in When the Roman legions were attacking Wales,
1916. At the age of 54, he was adopted as the they were set upon by one brave Welsh warrior
Republican candidate to fight Democratic with a club. Eventually, with hundreds of men at
President Woodrow Wilson, who was seeking their disposal, they managed to force him to
a second term of office. Hughes’ nomination retreat into a nearby cave. They follow him in
shows that by that time he had already made before running out, bleeding and screaming: “It’s
a substantial impact on his country. Hughes a trap! There’s two of them!”
was the focus of much interest and respect.
He possessed tremendous gifts that enabled
him to be a brilliant lawyer and jurist. The A prominent Welsh minister travelling home one
sharpness of his intellectual powers was night was greatly annoyed when a young man
legendary, as was his photographic memory, much the worse for drink came and sat next to
superb command of detail, independence of him on the bus. “Young man,” he declared, “do
judgment, honesty and incorruptibility. In 1916 you not realise you are on the road to
his party believed his ability and integrity perdition?” “Oh, hell,” replied the drunkard. “I
would appeal very strongly to American
could have sworn this was the bus to Llanelli.”
Cymru ym mhobman! - Wales Everywhere
Achyddiaeth Cymraeg – Welsh Genealogy
A New Video to Highlight
Reality was turned on its head in Cardiff "as if
Welsh
Pioneers in the Heartland
Roald Dahl is at the helm" to celebrate the author's
thanks
to Larry Griffiths
centenary. Dahl was born in Cardiff 100 years ago
in Septmber. Organizers said the laws of physics,
The Great Pains Welsh Heritage Project in Wymore,
logic and the predictable gave way to magic and
Nebraska has embarked on an ambitious effort to
invention.
create a video of location sites, old photos, and
Thousands of people gathered at the city's
castle after a giant peach made its way through the
streets, with some ushered back due to sheer
numbers. People young and old came dressed up
as their favorite Dahl characters as more than
35,000 people made their way to the city for the first
day of the event.
Born in
Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales, to Norwegian
parents, and known for such stories as James and
the Giant Peach, Dahl was a British novelist, short
story writer, poet, screenwriter, and fighter pilot. His
books have sold more than 250 million copies
worldwide.
In early 1942, Dahl, as assistant air attaché,
was to help neutralize the isolationist views still held
by many Americans by giving pro-British speeches
and discussing his war service.
narratives of our Welsh ancestors in the heartland.
This will be a professionally produced effort to
showcase not only the Welsh Heritage Center in
Wymore, but tell the story of the Welsh immigrants
who settled in Nebraska, including where their
journeys began.
I recently spent some time where I grew up in
Richardson County, in southeast Nebraska, with
Martha Davies, Berwyn Jones, and professional
photographer Grant Rogers. Several places which
were very personal to me and define my Welsh
heritage were photographed and videotaped. The
Verdon Cemetery is where my ancestors were laid
to rest after they had settled, owned, and farmed
land south of the village. These were second
generation Welsh who had left their parents and
relatives in southwest Wisconsin after the Civil War
to start their own families. There they built a Congregational Church which still stands. Northeast of
Verdon, they established another Welsh community
named Prairie Union. There a Welsh Baptist Church
and cemetery was established. Another Welsh
community was established near the village of
Salem. Where another Congregation still remains,
though very dilapidated, but retains the ornate
beauty it once displayed when it was built in the late
1800s.
These are but a sampling of what the video will
reveal. Other areas of Nebraska will be filmed and
stories gathered to bring to bear the importance the
Welsh had in helping build the legacy of the
heartland. The video is set to be released in the
spring of 2017.