22 June 2008 - 73rd Bryn Seion Gymanfa Ganu in Beavercreek, Oregon

Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 is the date for the 73rd Gymanfa Ganu, an event of singing in Welsh which sort of means "sing gathering," held at Bryn Seion Welsh Church in Beavercreek, Oregon. Welsh immigrants to the United States held community singing events like this in their churches to retain their community, their heritage and their language and these are one particular cultural birthright of Welsh-Americans. Anyone is welcome, whether they're lucky enough to be Welsh or not, and everyone sings together.

We got to go last year and I can't recommend this highly enough. The singing is gorgeous and so is Bryn Seion Church and its surroundings. Come for the singing, the Welsh market and the wonderful people.



The first service is at 11:00am. People come from all over to gather under the trees, on the lawn with picnic baskets and participate. There is a second singing in the evening, traditionally less well attended and the only time you may be fortunate enough to actually find a seat inside.


Bryn Seion Church was founded as a Welsh Evangelical church in 1884. One of the few Welsh churches left in North America, it is today non-denominational and the oldest Welsh church on the west coast with a 120-year unbroken tradition of service in its community.

Bryn Seion is located at 22132 South Kamrath Road, in Beavercreek, Oregon. Try the Rand McNally form below and directions are at the link to the Gymanfa Ganu, above.

Start Address:

Start City

Start State

Start ZIP

Biography of the ‘Welsh Gandhi’

(English Translation from the original Welsh launched at the Hay Festival this week) "2006 Welsh Book of the Year winner Rhys Evans has just launched the biography of Gwynfor Evans, hailed by many as the ‘Welsh Gandhi’, at the Hay festival. The launch was chaired by newly appointed Director of Communications to Boris Johnson, Guto Harri. During the event at the Sky Movie stage Rhys was questioned on Gwynfor Evans and his vast contribution to Welsh politics." 2006 Welsh Book of the Year winner Rhys Evans has just launched the biography of Gwynfor Evans, hailed by many as the ‘Welsh Gandhi’, at the Hay festival. The launch was chaired by newly appointed Director of Communications to Boris Johnson, Guto Harri. During the event at the Sky Movie stage Rhys was questioned on Gwynfor Evans and his vast contribution to Welsh politics.

Comparisons were made between the pressure Gordon Brown is presently under to what Gwynfor Evans suffered on numerous periods during his career. But Rhys Evans explained that Gwynfor just kept on going through thick and thin to become one of the main Welsh political figures of the 20th century. Rhys Evans said: “For Gwynfor to be preseident of a nationalist party for 36 is unsurpassed anywhere in Europe as far as I know, except maybe for Tito in the old Yugoslavia!”

Regarding his contribution, Rhys Evans said: “Wales and Wales's position within a devolved UK would be unrecognisable were it not for the labours of Gwynfor Evans over four decades. The central argument of this book is that Gwynfor Evans should be critically regarded as one of the three Welsh architects of post-war Wales. Whilst the lives of the other two key figures, Aneurin Bevan and Lloyd George, have been dispassionately chronicled, this is the first attempt to tell the complex and often tortured story of Gwynfor Evans."

Gwynfor Evans propelled Welsh politics onto the UK stage. He was one of the rare politicians to have forced Margaret Thatcher to make a U-turn, when he threatened a hunger strike to campaign for a Welsh-language TV channel, and was the winner of one of the most famous by-elections when he became Wales’ first nationalist MP. His leadership of the Welsh resistance against the flooding of Welsh valleys gained Plaid Cymru UK-wide publicity, and he is credited with paving the way for our post-devolution UK-politics.

The 500 page hardback book, Gwynfor Evans: Portrait of a Patriot is published by Y Lolfa. The original Welsh version won Welsh Book of the Year award in 2006 and Hywel Williams in The Guardian described Rhys Evans’s “sumptuous new biography” as a “major event”. It has also been described as a “masterpiece, both comprehensive and extremely interesting” by International Politics lecture Dr Richard Wyn Jones.

Author Rhys Evans was born in Carmarthen and raised in Aberystwyth. He graduated at Hertford College, Oxford where he studied Modern History. He’s been a journalist in Cardiff for more than a decade and is currently BBC Wales’ Deputy Head of News and Current Affairs.

Martin Kettle's remarks in the Guardian

Buy the book here

Hendy Productions: The Cure for Hiraeth

Visit Hendy Productions website HERE.

One of the curses of living in the Welsh diaspora is "hiraeth". Roughly translated as longing, yearning or homesickness, it is an affliction from which any Welshman living abroad for an extended period of time will have suffered. Fortunately the good folks at Hendy Productions have a cure. The website features a superb video of Wales ( a second is currently in preparation ) which is, in the words of Gareth Jenkins, "Inspirational".

Of course you don't need to be suffering from the symptoms of hiraeth to enjoy these videos. Anyone planning a vacation in Wales might use them to help plan their trip. Wales has so much to offer and it can be difficult to prioritize attractions and destinations. These videos are also ideal for anyone who just wants to experience the scenic splendour of North and West Wales and the architectural magnificence of Cardiff, without leaving their armchair.

Here is an excerpt from "The Land of Your Fathers" currently available from Hendy Productions:-

We include an excerpt from a forthcoming project entitled "Ynys Llanddwyn Island" below:-

"Ynys Llanddwyn on the south western corner of Anglesey, N. Wales. The island of the patron saint of Welsh lovers - Dwynwen. It guards the entrance to the Menai Straits and overlooks the beautiful Llyn peninsula.

Reputedly Dwynwen lived in the 5th century AD , a daughter of a Welsh prince. She fell in love with a young man, but had to reject him because of her father's preference for another suitor. She prayed that she be given a potion to deliver her from this amorous dilemma. The potion however turned her lover into ice. As was normal in such circumstances those days, she retreated to Llanddwyn Island to follow the life of a hermit. Llanddwyn means the "Church of Saint Dwynwen."

St Dwynwen's feast day is on January 25th.

A selection of photographs entitled Grand Slam can be viewed below. The photographs are available for purchase as prints by contacting Hendy Productions at their website.

Find more photos like this on Americymru

Latest On The Madoc Plaque

Donate here:-

Sign the Petition HERE

Americymru would like to acknowledge receipt of the following email from Janice Gattis of the Alabama Welsh Association and salute her efforts to restore the Madoc Plaque to its rightful place in Mobile Bay. It appears that the campaign will take a new form from now on. Since the Alabama Senate is incapable of addressing and resolving a simple issue like this there is little point in wasting further time on them. It now appears that funds will be raised to commission a new plaque to be displayed at a new location. Details of this campaign will shortly be made public. Meanwhile you can donate via paypal using the button above and in the navigation column to the right of this post. We hope all our readers will consider giving a donation to support this vital cause. If you prefer to mail your donation the address of the Alabama Welsh Association can be found at the bottom of this post. The text of the email is reproduced in its entirety below:-

Dear Alabama Welsh Members
Friends of AWA
Supporters of the Restoration of the Prince Madoc plaque
Welsh Parliament & Assembly Members
BBC News
North Wales Pioneer News


Re: Restoration of the Prince Madoc plaque to Mobile Bay

I thank all A.W.A. members and supporters of Prince Madoc Plaque
restoration, who rallied around magnificently and carried out a sustained
effort to ensure every single legislator in the Alabama Legislature learned
about Prince Madoc plaque resolution. (HJR#679)

However, we were failed by the Alabama Senate. I listened to some of the
Senate legislature session yesterday. They spent the entire session
bickering, and scoring political points instead of doing the job we pay them
to do. An entire legislative session wasted instead of dealing with the
legislative issues that were before them.

Needless to say, they did not bring the Prince Madoc Resolution to the
table, therefore, it was never voted on. The Legislative session for this
year ended yesterday so this means we have to wait until January 2009, and
we'll have to start over with the House of Representatives.

We will continue to collect signatures on the petition, so please keep
promoting it. We've decided to start a Prince Madog "Fund" which will be
used for a NEW memorial for Prince Madog ap Owain Gwynedd. What kind will
be determined by the funds we're able to collect. Where will it be
displayed is still in the works.

Thank each of you for all your support and we kindly ask for your help to
continue until we reach our goal. Our goal is to properly honor Prince
Madog as was the wish of the 1953 Virginia Cavalier Chapter of the Daughters
of the American Revolution, and Zella Armstrong of Chattanooga, Tennessee, a
historian, writer, and archaeologist.


Cymru am byth!

Janice Price Gattis
President - Alabama Welsh Association

For those of you who are Alabamians, please call, email, or write your
senator. Tell them how you feel about their dismal failure to achieve
anything this year. How you feel about their poor representation of you on
the national political field. How you feel about them confirming everyone's
prejudices about our great state. Tell them you will remember that all they
achieved in 2007 was to vote themselves a huge pay raise.

Above all, let them know that in 2010 you will remember their failures of
the past two years and that voluntary failure is not acceptable and will not
be tolerated.

Find your senator HERE


Mailing address for donations:-

Prince Madog Memorial Fund

c/o Alabama Welsh Assoc.

327 Mountain Lake Circle

Rainbow City, AL 35906

Make Payable to: Alabama Welsh Assoc.

(please note on the check, For: Madoc Fund)

Alabama Welsh Association site HERE
Previous Americymru posts on this topic can be found HERE

New American Welsh Social Network

Visit Americymru

This is a very exclusive group. In order to join you must:-

A. Be Welsh or of Welsh descent...or not.
B. Be a keen admirer of Tom Jones...or not.
C. Know at least 2 Windsor Davies quotes...or not.
D. Know how to give detailed directions from Fochriw to Ystradgynlais
avoiding all main roads and passing at least 15 pubs en route...or
not.

The above nonsense notwithstanding feel free to join if you have some
regard for, and/or interest in, Wales and Welsh culture and way too
much time on your hands. Its a bit like Facebook only better. Come
and claim your profile.

Croeso i Americymru

Bring It Home On May 17th!

Few readers of this blog will need reminding that Cardiff City have made it to the F.A. Cup Final this year. The match will be played at Wembley on Saturday May 17th. If Cardiff succeed in defeating Portsmouth on that day it will be a truly historic occasion for the City. Cardiff's first F.A. Cup win since 1927!

Ever since Sam Hammam bought the club back in 2000 the potential has existed for a Welsh Premier Division side attracting support from the whole of the nation. Despite historic divisions between North and South and traditional football rivalries between Swansea and Cardiff it is to be hoped that every Welshman will be rooting for the Bluebirds this Saturday. The F.A. Cup is an English Cup and this is our chance to take it from them.

With the Rugby Grand Slam already in the bag it will be a great year indeed for Welsh sport if we can win the F.A. Cup as well.We include a few musical offerings for your delight and delectation. Above is the official release "Bluebirds Flying High" currently in the top 20 and below, "Do The Ayatollah"and "Men of Harlech".

SUPPORT THE BLUEBIRDS!!!!!

BRING IT HOME ON MAY 17th!!!!

Review: 'Sea Holly' by Robert Minhinnick

Porthcawl is a traditional British seaside resort on the South Wales coast about half way between Cardiff and Swansea. It has an esplanade with a row of hotels encamped along the seafront, a funfair called Coney Island and one of the largest caravan and camping parks in Europe. There are several beaches including Rest Bay and Trecco Bay both of which have been awarded the coveted Blue Flag status for adherence to water quality standards. Altogether an interesting and lively place and a perfect setting for a novel which explores the related themes of transience and permanence.

Life is seasonal in Porthcawl, or at least it is for the migrant workers who come to work at the funfair and for the human flotsam and jetsam that live on its margins. Robert Minhinnick has assembled a lively cast of marginal characters many of whom assume the role of narrator as the story unfolds. There is "The Fish" whose diminutive size, withered arm and love of alcohol have condemned him to work collecting fares for a ride aptly named "The Kingdom of The Damned". He spends the last night of the season sitting on a pedestal in "The Kingdom" drinking absinthe and toasting "absinthe friends". There is Donal, ex Special Boat Service, a veteran of the "troubles" in Northern Ireland. A man infected with wanderlust and a love of the sea. He has returned to Porthcawl after a failed Spanish business venture. His bar in Spain was called "El Zorro". Named after a freak wave that would snatch people off the beach and wash them out to sea. At one point he reflects ruefully whilst swimming off the 'Caib':-

"And yeah, that wave, El Zorro, that people warned their children about? Well I was the one it swallowed, wasn't I? I was the one it snatched off the beach. Funny really. You might even call it ironic.How that bastard wiped me out."

Many other colorful characters stalk these pages including Lol ,the geography teacher who sees a vision and goes native, camping in the dunes for years and communing with nature. There is also Hal the local Napoleon who owns much of the fair and many other things besides including a beer mat signed by Richard Burton, his hero, which is amongst his prized possessions.

It falls to the lot of these characters to narrate the tale of John Vine, a fifty year old English teacher who has left his job and family behind to live in a caravan on the Caib and pursue a new 'career' as a bingo caller at the fair. This crisis in his affairs was precipitated by an involvement with a young female student who subsequently disappeared.

The action takes place over a seven day period and during the course of the week we are offered many fascinating insights into the characters of both John Vine and the many narrators. Of course the disappearance of John Vine's former pupil, Rachel is central to the plot but we are also presented with a vivid portrait and masterful evocation of life on the 'Caib'. Indeed so much so that the novel was nominated for the 2008 Ondaatje Prize, a literary award that is given for a work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry which powerfully evokes the "spirit of a place".

This is a novel for anyone with an appreciation of the transience of mans life and works and of the futility of resistance to time and tide. It is Robert Minhinnick's first novel and hopefully the first of many.

First rate....highly recommended! A bigraphy of Robert Minhinnick can be found here.

Trecco Bay Wikimedia Commons

2008 North American Festival of Wales

The biggest Welsh cultural festival in the US, the North American Festival of Wales (NAFOW), will be held this year in Chicago, Illinois, 28 August 2008 to 31 August 2008.

This year's NAFOW will include the Eisteddfod competition, Cinema Wales, a presentation of Welsh folk dance, the 77th National Gymanfa Ganu, a folk concert with Fflur Dafydd, the WNGGA & NWAF Grand Banquet featuring tenor Aled Wyn Davies, the marketplace and tearoom and, of course, a pub.

See the Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu Assocation's site for registration, travel information and precise schedule of events.

Seren Books, Bridgend, Wales

Seren Books, described by one myspace admirer as a, "tidy lil publisher," is an independent publisher specializing in Welsh writers in English. Following a string of nominations and awards to its writers, Seren is currently enjoying what is hopefully only the beginning of great success: Sea Holly, by Robert Minhinnick, was shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize; poet John Haynes won the 2007 Costa Poetry prize; a translation of an Albanian novel – The Loser by Fatos Kongoli – was shortlisted for the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression award 2008; To Babel and Back, by Robert Minhinnick won the Welsh Book of the Year in 2006, Mr Cassini by Lloyd Jones in 2007 and Blue Sky July by Nia Wyn is on this year's long list.

Founded in 1981 by Mick Felton, its current editor, Seren titles itself "Wales' leading literary publisher," and is described on its website as: "... an independent literary publisher, specialising in English-language writing from Wales. Our diverse and eclectic list has something to offer anyone with an interest in excellent writing. Our aim is not simply to reflect what is going on in the culture in which we publish, but to drive that culture forward, to engage with the world, and to bring Welsh literature, art and politics before a wider audience."

In addition to being able to sign up for membership, read articles and profiles of Seren's very impressive stable of writers on its website, you can experience live poetry readings from Seren authors on their youtube page and learn more about Seren on its myspace profile.

Seren offers an amazing list of works and writers, including literature, poetry, photography and art, including:

LLOYD JONES, Mr Cassini, Mr. Vogel. "Former farm-worker, newspaper editor, chamber-of-horrors employee and lecturer, Lloyd Jones lives in Llanfairfechan, on the north Wales coast. Following a bout of alcoholism which nearly killed him, he set off on an epic walk around Wales, the inspiration for his novel, Mr Vogel."


ROBERT MINHINNICK, Sea Holly, Badlands, (many more titles). Robert Minhinnick is a prolific multi-award winning poet and author, former editor of Poetry Wales and co-founder of Sustainable Wales


NIA WYN, Blue Sky July. Journalist Nia Wyn's autobiographical memoir of the first seven years of her son, Joe's, life with cerebral palsy.

President of Wales coming to Portland, Oregon

US democratic candidates Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton have both recently been to Portland and now the Right Honorable Tom Jones, True President* of Wales, will be performing at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon on the evening of May 29, 2008. We are certain his show will be more fun than theirs.

Bring fresh panties. Tribute must be paid.









El Presidente Tom Jones, sans cigar


(80% of Welsh residents surveyed in the 1970s said that if there were such a thing as President of Wales, it should be Tom Jones)