An Open Letter To The Press In Alabama

Sign the Petition HERE

RE: The Plaque Story Which The Rest Of The Worlds Press Is Covering But Not You

Dear Sir

As a resident of Portland , Oregon it concerns me to discover that I know more about the local news in your area than you do. Allow me to fill you in. The Alabama Welsh are campaigning for the restoration of the historical plaque dedicated to Prince Madoc in Mobile Bay. Unfortunately the Alabama Welsh have not raped, murdered or killed anyone but might I suggest the following headline if you feel that the story lacks dramatic impact:-

"Alabama State Parks Department Rapes History! Murders Myth and Defiles Legend!!"
( I left some room for additional exclamation marks should they be needed )

Now I am not suggesting that a major international incident will occur as a result of this campaign. It is unlikely that we will see Welsh gunboats ( or even coracles ) anchored in Mobile Bay any time soon. I do feel, however, that you should contact the Alabama Welsh Association and ask them for the inside story. The BBC thought it worthwhile and so did Radio Wales.

Best Regards

Ceri Shaw

There's History and There's Lies: Once More on the Madoc Plaque

( Sign the petition HERE )

Studying the roll of honor on the Alabama Welsh Associations petition site one notices the names of concerned individuals and representatives of Welsh Communities and ex-pat Societies from all around the world. One also notes a distinct lack of support from the Welsh academic community and in particular Welsh historians.

Yes I know that Gwyn Williams debunked the theory that Gutyn Owen referenced the Madoc saga before John Dee. I share the general view that the whole tale is so fantastical as to be at the very least highly improbable. But then I dont believe in Pryderi's pigs either!

The very same Gwyn Williams who may have given the Madoc legend the kiss of death was fond of referring to the 'Mabinoggion' as a 'foundation text'. In that sense he likened it to the Old Testament. I dont think any sane person would deny the historical significance of either work.

The 'Mabinoggion' is a book of fairy tales but none the less significant for that. If the Madoc legend is also a fairy tale, as it very well maybe, why is it singled out for special treatment? Why is it not considered significant? It has motivated writers, explorers and statesmen. Its role as a subsidiary factor in the motivations of many of those who explored the American West is a matter of established fact! It inspired Robert Southey and many other authors.

The history of Wales is littered with fantastical episodes and fanciful figures. Arthur, Merlin and Iolo Morgannwg spring readily to mind. Is it the business of historians to despise them or study them?

Please humour those of us who are not professional academic historians. It would be greatly appreciated.

Previous post (HERE)

Please Sign This Petition!! Restore The Madoc Plaque!

Reproduced from the website of the Alabama Welsh Association:-

"URGENT! The Prince Madoc (Madog) plaque located near Ft. Morgan on Mobile Bay has been removed and put into storage by the Alabama Parks Department. The plaque was put in place in 1953 by the Daughters of the American Revolution. According to the site manager of Fort Morgan, it is currently in storage because the site only "focuses on the United States military presence". Please help get the plaque restored for public viewing on Mobile Bay by signing our petition by clicking HERE. You can also email your desire to have the plaque restored to: Barnet Lawley, Director of the Dept. of Conservation Blanton Blankenship, Site Mgr of Fort Morgan Your help in removing this plaque from the storage shed, thus putting another piece of history back on display is greatly appreciated!"

See our earlier post on this topic HERE

The Man From The Alamo: by John Humphries

John Humphries' "The Man from the Alamo" does not have much to say about that historic conflict, indeed Davy Crockett is only mentioned once, briefly, on page 91. What it does have to say, however, goes a long way toward answering some of the most intriguing questions about John Rees, a great Welsh-American and man of mystery. Much more can now be said of him than was possible before Mr. Humphries' painstaking research.

John Rees ( a.k.a Jack The Fifer ) was born in Merthyr Tydfil in 1815 and died in Hornbrook, Northern California in 1893 . Sometime before he was twenty he immigrated to the United States. He was 20 years old when he volunteered for service with the Second Company of the New Orleans Greys in October 1835. Born of working class parents in South Wales in the early 19 century it is likely that he endured the almost obligatory period of child labour in one of the many local collieries or Ironworks . Given that he was an accomplished fife player it is also possible that he saw some military service with the British army in his teens.


He took part in the siege of San Antonio De Bexar in 1835, and fought at the battle of Coleto Creek in 1836. Following the capture of Colonel James Fannin's command after the battle he was one of only 28 survivors of the infamous Goliad massacre in which more than 300 Texan prisoners were killed. He was later recaptured and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner . After the Mexican defeat at San Jacinto he was released in April or May, 1836. Upon his release he rejoined the army and was honourably discharged later that same year. The traditional account of his subsequent activities has been largely undermined by the books author. It was long thought that John Rees collected his back pay and land-bounty entitlements and returned immediately to Wales where we know that he was employed as a mason at the Tredegar Ironworks in 1839.


The book adduces substantial evidence to suggest that John Rees claimed not one, but several land bounty entitlements and that he spent the better part of two years actively “swindling” the infant Republic of Texas which he had recently fought so bravely to establish. Lest anyone should think any the less of him for this, it must be pointed out that he was not alone. Submitting bogus land bounty claims was a very prevalent and fashionable vice amongst ex-soldiers of the Republic at this time; rather like cocaine abuse in the 1980's and wife-swapping in the 1970's.


Upon his return to Wales Rees almost immediately became involved in the Chartist movement which at that time was agitating for the acceptance of the famous Six Points listed below (1). He played a key role in the bloody events of the 4th of November 1839. It lies beyond the scope of this review to recount the details of the rising but the following link may help with the background details:- The Newport Rebellion 1839. There are almost as many theories concerning the intentions of the marchers at Newport as there are books on the subject. Some of the most important works are listed in the footnotes (2). Mr Humphries book seeks to examine the events from the perspective of the role they played in the lives of two of the leading participants. More than fifty percent of the book deals with the life of Zephaniah Williams, a prominent Chartist leader, and the chapters dealing with his subsequent trial and transportation are indeed fascinating but the major premise of the work is that it was John Rees who assumed the mantle of leadership at the key moment on that fateful day.


There has been much debate concerning the intentions of the marchers. It has been suggested that the original plan for an armed insurrection had been amended and that nothing more than a peaceful demonstration was intended. If so, did John Rees acquiesce in the change of plan? Did John Rees fire the first shot at the Westgate and if he did was he acting unilaterally or with the full premeditation of the other Chartist leaders? What is certain is that he was at the head of the column as it approached the hotel and that he was accompanied by a hundred or more men armed with muskets, shotguns and assorted firearms ( most of the marchers were armed with pikes). It was John Rees who , pistol in hand, demanded the release of the Chartist prisoners held within , a demand which precipitated the bloody melee in the hotel foyer. This in turn prompted the soldiers secreted in the hotel lobby to throw open the shutters and fire into the tightly packed crowd in the street outside.


Whatever his intentions, his actions led to a charge of high treason being brought against him and a reward of one hundred pounds being offered for his capture. John Rees escaped to Newfoundland and subsequently to an unknown location in Virginia thus avoiding the awful fate of John Frost, Zephaniah Williams and William Jones who were captured, tried, found guilty of high treason and ultimately transported to the British penal colonies in Tasmania. The details of his escape are recounted by none other than John Rees himself! In 1841 he wrote two letters to the editor of the Cambrian newspaper in west Wales. They were not published until 1844 . Humphries quotes extensively from these letters and it is from them that we know that Rees settled in Virginia for a period of five years where he stayed with unidentified friends.


In 1846 we find him back in Texas serving with the military; this time with the Texas Rangers. It is highly likely that he was captured and subsequently released at a very early stage in the U.S-Mexican War of 1846-48. He emerges in late 1846 in Matamoros, Mexico doing one last "shady" deal which involved the sale of his last remaining land donation certificate. This transaction was fraudulent because the certificate in question could not legally be sold during the recipient's lifetime.


For the rest of his life Rees almost certainly lived in Northern California to which he was drawn by the initial fervour of the California gold rush. At some point he became an American citizen and he appears on both the 1870 and 1880 census. He died of natural causes in Hornbrook in 1893.


In conclusion it must be said that John Humphries has written a very powerful book about two extraordinary men. John Rees was a great Welsh-American who was a hero, of sorts, on both sides of the Atlantic. His remarkable penchant for placing himself in difficult and dangerous situations was only matched by his genius for self-preservation. It is to be hoped that much more remains to be discovered about the life of this colorful and admirable character.


The book may be purchased here The Man from the Alamo
FOOTNOTES


(1) This version of the Six Points is taken from a contemporary leaflet featured in British Working Class Movements: Select Documents 1789-1875 edited by GDH Cole and AW Filson (Macmillan, 1951).


1. A VOTE for every man twenty one years of age, of sound mind, and not undergoing punishment for crime.
2. THE BALLOT.--To protect the elector in the exercise of his vote.
3. NO PROPERTY QUALIFICATION for members of Parliament—thus enabling the constituencies to return the man of their choice, be he rich or poor.
4. PAYMENT OF MEMBERS, thus enabling an honest tradesman, working man, or other person, to serve a constituency, when taken from his business to attend to the interests of the country.
5. EQUAL CONSTITUENCIES, securing the same amount of representation for the same number of electors,--instead of allowing small constituencies to swamp the votes of larger ones.
6. ANNUAL PARLIAMENTS, thus presenting the most effectual check to bribery and intimidation, since though a constituency might be bought once in seven years (even with the ballot), no purse could buy a constituency (under a system of universal suffrage) in each ensuing twelvemonth; and since members, when elected for a year only, would not be able to defy and betray their constituents as now.


(2) Two of the most important and recent works on the Chartist Rising.


"South Wales and the Rising of 1839" Ivor Wilks University of Illinois Press 1984 ISBN 0-252-01146-5


"The Last Rising: The Newport Chartist Insurrection of 1839" David J. V. Jones University Of Wales Press; New edition (March 28, 1999) ISBN 070831452X

Giant Zombie Cats on the Loose in Wales: First Photographic Evidence

THIS POST HAS BEEN MOVED TO AMERICYMRU.NET AND CAN BE SEEN HERE:- 

https://americymru.net/ceri-shaw/blog/4894/giant-zombie-cats-on-the-loose-in-wales-first-photographic-evidence

Outage

Today we experienced a two hour service outage . Combine this with the fact that our home server in the garage is 5 years old and occasionally makes ominous rattling noises like its fixing to die at any moment and you will easily see why the question of backup is uppermost in my mind at the moment. OK so I have all my content from the "static" site backed up on a USB drive but thats not quite the same as having it online.

Soooo...since I havent had time to blog this morning I thought this might be a good opportunity to revive a couple of old items which are now safely backed up on the servers of the mighty Google.

To anyone who has seen this stuff before I apologise for the repetition. To anyone who hasn't I owe no apology.

A Great Day for The Environment in Wales

Two stories today make it clear that Wales can, and is taking a lead in acting on current environmental concerns. This article from icWales announces that:-

"PROPOSALS by the Welsh Assembly Government will effectively ban genetically modified crops from Wales. New regulations, if adopted, will set Wales apart from England in applying a strict “polluter pays” principle that will put an end even to trial plantings."

This is in complete contrast to the Whitehall approach which has always been to encourage GM crop development.

Meanwhile in a report from NewsWales it appears that researchers in Swansea University have developed a new method of generating electricity from steel clad surfaces. This basically involves painting them with a new and revolutionary photovoltaic material. It is, apparently, both efficient and cost effective. See article here.

What is Anglo-Welsh Literature and why Should Anyone Care?

( This article was originally contributed to Manuel Marino's Arts Weblog. Reviews of some of the authors and works mentioned in the article can be found on the Americymru Book Reviews pages.)

As a Welsh ex-pat currently residing in the USA I have noticed a profound disparity between the notion of Wales that many Americans of Welsh descent entertain and the reality that I left behind seven years ago. Nowhere is this more evident than in the literary field. The triumphs of yesteryear are rightly held in high regard but modern literary trends and authors are sadly neglected. The legacy of Dylan and R.S. Thomas is , of course, sacred to us all, but Wales has moved on and a new genertaion of writers reflect that fact.In recent decades we have witnessed a flowering of literary culture in Wales and stereotypical Welsh writing so famously satirized by Harri Webb in his poem "Synopsis of the Great Welsh Novel" has been left far behind. We have seen the emergence of Welsh noir ( Niall Griffiths, Malcolm Pryce, John Williams ) which continues to be popular and other major talents such as Lloyd jones, Rachel Trezise, Trezza Azzopardi, Rhys Hughes, Gee Williams and Owen Sheers have made their presence felt.

But what is Anglo-Welsh literature and why should anyone care? I would argue that at its best it provides a unique perspective (in the English speaking world at least) on modern ideas of national, cultural and personal identity. As Gwyn Williams once famously said:- "The Welsh as a people have lived by making and remaking themselves in generation after generation, usually against the odds, usually within a British context." Both Welsh-language and Anglo-Welsh literature have played a prominent role in that process. It is not a literature of rage. At the risk of offending a portion of my audience I will say that English colonial rule has for the most part been far too benign to produce a majority violent reaction but it is a literature of self-assertion and defiance, albeit sometimes confused and unfocused.

These themes are explored in a number of fascinating works by contemporary Welsh writers. Owen Sheers' magnificent debut novel 'Resistance' is set in an alternate universe in which the Nazis invade and conquer Britain during World war II. It focuses in large part on the struggle to reinvent oneself, adapt and survive in the face of extreme adversity. The book ends with both protagonists facing a stark choice which is really no choice at all. In order to survive they must turn their backs on everything they have known and attempt to find personal salvation in a future that is as uncertain as it is dangerous.The novel hints at the special relationship which the Welsh people have with their landscape. The hills of Wales are indeed magnificent but they pale into insignificance, at least in topographical terms, when compared with the European Alps or the North American Cascades. Their special gravity and power lies in the fact that every nook and cranny, every fold and crevice, is invested with some human significance. The sum of history and legend which the landscape reveals is almost an externalization of Welsh identity itself. It is against this backdrop that Sarah, the heroine of this novel, must strive to uproot herself and accept the evolutionary challenge.

A far more extreme adaptation and 'remaking' (or failure to adapt) can be found in the pages of 'Niall Griffiths' stark and brutal novel.."Sheepshagger". Here we see what happens when ancient tribal resentments, personal greivance and drug-addled inarticulacy combine to prevent 'personal growth'. The desperate and bestial acts of violence committed by the novels anti-hero are the products of a sense of loss and a seething resentment directed against those who have deprived him. He is unable to articulate his impotent rage by any other means. He asserts himself as a serial-killer. It should be pointed out that this exploration of the darker side of the Welsh 'psyche', whilst magnificent, also contains passages of graphic violence which would make Brett Easton Ellis blush.

The fact that the Welsh are a naturally restless people and constantly searching for a lost identity or fashioning a new one is perhaps more happily exemplified in Lloyd Jones extraordinary "Mr Vogel". This novel which is by turns baffling and inspiring recounts an epic journey around Wales made by a delusional alcoholic. To say that the narrative is not straightforward would be an understatement but what this novel lacks in simplicity it makes up for in many other ways. We are never quite sure what the nature of the quest is but the journey is perhaps its own justification. Toward the end of the book, when his epic perambulation is almost complete, Mr. Vogel finds himself in a mental hospital where he offers the following observation to one of his fellow patients:-

"When was Wales? Wales has never been, it has always been." he rambled on to his next victim, Myrddin the schizophrenic, who fortunately) was asleep. "I'll tell you something for nothing." he said, "true Wales is never more than a field away, and true Wales is always a field away, like Rhiannons horse in the Mabinogi. Got it?"

Jones' work is a tribute to the transformative and redemptive power of the imagination and its ability to refashion national, cultural and personal identity.

None of the above should be taken to suggest that Anglo-Welsh literature concerns itself solely with these themes or that other literary traditions neglect them. I would contend however that owing to Wales unique history,a history in which its cultural identity has constantly been threatened with absorption by that of its much more powerful neighbour,they are much more acutely focused in the Anglo-Welsh literary tradition.

Books Referenced in the Text:-

“When Was Wales” Gwyn Williams Penguin Books 1985

“Resistance” Owen Sheers Faber and Faber 2007

“Sheepshagger” Niall Griffiths Vintage 2002

“Mr. Vogel” Lloyd Jones Seren 2004

An Act of Historical Vandalism! Restore The Madoc Plaque!

Sign the Petition
Storm Over Missing Madoc Plaque
Support The Alabama Welsh

Firstly let me say that I entirely support the Alabama Welsh Society in their efforts to have the plaque restored ( see above linked articles for background ). I am not a believer in the Madoc story. Of course I would like to believe it and am always ready to be convinced but currently there is no concrete evidence to support it and the whole episode seems too convenient for Tudor propaganda purposes not to have been fabricated. It is a fact, however, that many people have believed this story including Thomas Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis. Both men were of Welsh ancestry and one of the secondary goals of The Lewis and Clark expedition was to locate the lost tribe of Welsh speaking Indians possibly amongst the Mandans.

The following is a quote from the above-linked article. It outlines the official explanation for the plaque's removal:-

"But according to the site manager of Fort Morgan, Blanton Blankenship, the plaque has since been removed and is currently in storage because the site only "focuses on the United States military presence".

In a letter to the Welsh society, Mr Blankenship said: " This does not reflect prejudice against Prince Madoc or the Welsh, as we also do not interpret the prehistoric Native American nor historic Spanish, French and English occupations of this area. There are no plans to put it back on exhibit."

All of this entirely misses the point! The plaque is itself a part of American history. It is a manifestation of a belief ( mistaken or otherwise ) that has motivated men like Jefferson and Lewis and many others amongst the pioneers and explorers of the 19th century. In Hudson N.Y. there is a public park which, for various bizarre reasons, is home to a statue of St. Winifrede, a 7th century Welsh Saint. Should it be removed because the park focuses on recreational use and not religious or historical commemoration? Is it not conceivable that a site, historical or otherwise, can serve more than one purpose or provide a home for a variety of artifacts?

But let us indulge in a little reductio ad absurdum. I am a former resident of downtown Cardiff. Cardiff Castle is well known as a mish-mash of Roman, Norman, late Medieval and 19th Century structures. Let us suppose that it was decided that visitors should focus on the period of the Roman occupation. Do we then demolish the rest in order to remove any possible distractions? Surely the absurdity of this must impinge upon even the most beaurocratically warped mind?

The Alabama Welsh society want us to write to a number of people listed on this page. I for one will be heeding their call.

As a side note:- How come it took twenty years before anyone noticed it was gone?

(Image at the top of this page reproduced by kind permission of The Alabama Welsh Society. Why doesn't Blogger allow captions??)

Confessions Of A Romano-Celt?

As a Welshman and a student of Welsh history I am in the habit of raising a glass or two on significant dates in the Welsh calendar. In order to facilitate my predeliction I am in the process of developing an easy reference for celebrants of the Cymric heritage on these pages at Americymru.com. The concept of 'significant dates' is interpreted very liberally both in order to fill the available spaces and of course to maximise excuses for revelry.

I am endebted to the memory of Arthur Machen for one such recent opportunity. He was born on March 3rd 1863. Anyone not acquainted with the works of Arthur Machen should seek to remedy that deficiency immediately. There are a number of relevant links on this calendar page. He wrote several masterpieces of Gothic whimsy outstanding amongst which is "The Three Impostors" (1895). He is regarded as the 'missing link' between M.R. James and H.P. Lovecraft by many afficianados of the genre. He is also the author of "The Hill Of Dreams" a semi-autobiographical novella which is by turns one of the most sublime, profound and hilarious products of late Victorian literature. Additionally his work offers fascinating insights into the social mores and customs of provincial life in late 19th century Gwent.

When I was an undergraduate, many decades ago, I had the pleasure and privilege to be tutored by the late great Gwyn A. Williams author of "When Was Wales", one of the definitive works on the subject of Welsh history and national identity. He was fond of referring to the present day inhabitants of Wales as "Romano-Celts", suggesting perhaps that the Welsh are in some way the beleaguered remnants of the once mighty Roman empire. Certainly pockets of something resembling Late Roman civilization may have lingered for a few centuries in places like Caerwent and Caerleon but for the most part I remained sceptical. It seems doubtful that the Roman influence penetrated the Welsh hinterland extensively and may only really have been significant in the immediate environs of the legionary forts and civitas capitals. Most of Wales' modern day inhabitants, in the South at least, are descendants of the English, Scots and Irish immigrants who came looking for work during the 'coal rush' from the 1850's onwards. It seemed fanciful to imagine that anything of Romano-Celtic vintage could have survived into the modern age.

Then I came across this fascinating passage in a volume by Machen:-

"When I was a boy, which is a good many years ago, there was a very queer celebration on New Year's Day in the little Monmouthshire town where I was born, Caerleon-on-Usk. The town children—village children would be nearer the mark since the population of the place amounted to a thousand souls or thereabouts—got the biggest and bravest and gayest apple they could find in the loft, deep in the dry bracken. They put bits of gold leaf upon it. They stuck raisins into it. They inserted into the apple little sprigs of box, and then they delicately slit the ends of hazel nuts, and so worked that the nuts appeared to grow from the ends of the box-leaves, to be the disproportionate fruit of these small trees. At last, three bits of stick were fixed into the base of the apple, tripod-wise; and so it was borne round from house to house; and the children got cakes and sweets, and—those were wild days, remember—small cups of ale. And nobody knew what it was all about.

And here is the strangeness of it. Caerleon means the fort of the legions, and for about three hundred years the Second Augustan Legion was quartered there, and made a tiny Rome of the place, with amphitheatre, baths, temples, and everything necessary for the comfort of a Roman-Briton. And the Legion brought over the custom of the strena (French, étrennes) the New Year's gift of good omen. The apple, with its gold leaf, raisins and nuts, meant: 'good crops and wealth in the New Year.' It is the Latin poet, Martial, I think, who alludes to the custom. He was an ungrateful fellow; somebody sent him a gold cup as a New Year's gift, and he said that the gold of the cup was so thin that it would have done very well to put on the festive apple of the day.

 

Well, I suppose the Second Augustan was recalled somewhere about a.d. 400. The Saxon came to Caerleon, and after him the Dane, and then the Norman, and then the modern spirit, the worst enemy of all, and still, up to fifty years ago, the Caerleon children kept New Year's Day, as if the Legionaries were yet in garrison. And I suppose that Caerleon was the only place south of the Tweed where people took any festal notice at all of the first day in the year. For it is not an old English festival at all. It is distinctly Latin in origin."

So, it appears that in one small corner of Wales an ancient Roman tradition survived until the late 19th century...nearly 1600 years! A small thing, granted, but nevertheless perhaps I should raise a glass to Gwyn Williams on September 30th ( his birthdate) this year.

( The above quote is from "Why New Year?" anthologised in "Dog And Duck" by Arthur Machen. The complete text can be found on Project Gutenberg Here.)

Rugby Spoiler

Here at Americymru we have burned the Wicker Man and interpreted the ashes. We confidently predict a Welsh victory over the French on Saturday. If you do not want to know the scoreline please look away now ( 27 - 9 ) . We would put money on this but gambling on sporting events is illegal here in Oregon outside Indian Reservations.

This will mean that Wales will win the Grand Slam ( again ). The last time they did so was in 2005. Anyone wishing to watch the match here in the US could do no better than to visit this Setanta page and find a pub in their area where the match is being shown. Remember to dress appropriately for the occasion. Examples of appropriate dress can be found on this page. As you can see from this article the game is taken very seriously in Wales.

You can also beam the game directly into your home for around $15 on the Setanta Channel at www.setantanorthamerica.com

Local venues in Portland include the following:-

Bar/Venue	Kells (Portland)
Address	112 South West 2nd Ave.
City	Portland, OR 97204
Phone	503-227-4057
Website	www.kellsirish.com/portland/index.php
Distance	4.39 miles (approx.) [map]

( Live with $20 dollar cover charge. Match starts at 10 a.m Pacific Time )

You could also check out The Thirsty Lion ( match being shown at 5 p.m. ) and the Horses Brass on Belmont.

If anyone back home, and I know we have one or two members and readers in the Cardiff area, wants to email us a few pics of the glorious event they will earn our eternal gratitude and will be awarded the Iron Cross of Glyndwr ( or whatever). Pretty please??!!

Welcome To Our Latest Feature

Why add a blog to a static website? For all the usual reasons I suppose, amongst which I count the following:-

1. When we launched Americymru about a year ago the intention was to provide a place online for - " Americans of Welsh descent to celebrate their heritage and deepen their knowledge of the rich fund of Welsh History , Folklore and Legend." We started the Oregon Welsh Heritage Society at about the same time and for the same purpose. Since that day the quality and quantity of content on the site has grown steadily as has the number of daily visitors. Membership of the OWHS has also seen a modest increase but we are conscious of the fact that we have not sought to involve anyone in the building of the site nor have we really provided the means to do so. It is hoped that this blog will go some way towards remedying this deficiency. We will actively encourage contributions relevant to the subject matter of the site.



2. Blogs also come with all kinds of built-in advantages. They are easier to promote and cosequently its easier to attract visitors. Naturally we want to encourage as many Americans as possible to be aware of and take a pride in their Welsh heritage. We want to explore the nature of that heritage and the nature of "Welshness' itself and share the experience with as many people as possible. If this technology can assist us then so much the better.

So thats it! Our blog manifesto. The next step I suppose is to try and make this an interesting and entertaining place to while away the hours in front of your monitor. Or at least we intend to try.