RBS Six Nations News: Gareth Thomas Launches New Online Welsh Rugby TV Channel

As we line up for the start of the RBS Six Nations, a new online Welsh rugby TV channel launches with its selection of the high profile international and Cardiff Blues star Gareth Thomas as its main presenter. The South Wales based online subscription tv venture welshrugby.tv has been created to deliver insight on the real stories in Welsh rugby for Welsh rugby supporters worldwide – with independent comment from Gareth "Alfie" Thomas - one of Welsh rugby’s biggest characters, as the main host for the channel during the RBS 6 Nations Championship. Click here to view Alfie telling us why he’s involved and what he thinks welshrugby.tv should be. The versatile player now moves into a presenter’s role, hosting the regular The Welsh Rugby Show on welshrugby.tv, which kicks off this week. Thomas won his 100th cap for Wales against Fiji during the Rugby World Cup in 2007, was Captain of Wales’s Grand Slam winning team in 2005 and captained the British and Irish Lions on their tour of New Zealand in the same year. Thomas is keen to give fans the inside track on issues and stories about the game in Wales, and the welshrugby.tv site will provide the Welsh rugby supporter with a unique combination of the latest rugby news, professional and creative video content, analysis and opinion. welshrugby.tv will produce a ‘behind the scenes’ look at all aspects of Welsh rugby, including: the 6 Nations campaign, the summer tour and the Autumn internationals, the regions, club and community rugby and player profiles. Thomas will be joined by a range of top flight and local club players, giving their views and insight into the raw truth of how things really are for those involved in the game. Thomas said: “Without doubt, Welsh rugby supporters are the most knowledgeable, passionate and committed fans worldwide. As I know from my own experience, rugby in Wales is far more than a game, it’s a part of who we are and I’m really pleased to be part of a team that’s giving real information and comment from behind the scenes, and I hope, will inspire the true Welsh rugby supporter.” Market research by the team behind the venture has shown that rugby supporters want to have different types of programming and video clips from what is already available either online, in print or on screen. Carwyn Jones from Llantrisant commented “At last, someone’s listening to what we want – we want to be able to hear the voice and views of the real Welsh rugby supporter alongside that of the usual rugby pundits – and for them to take notice of what we’re saying.” With that in mind, as well as the The Welsh Rugby Show and the latest news at international and regional level, welshrugby.tv will host blogs, supporters’ forums and through the Clubzone section of the site will offer rugby clubs across Wales, the opportunity to post information on their club and upload their own videos.” Tom Stroud, CEO of Webcast Global explained “Welsh rugby supporters have been saying that they want to get the bare truth and be involved with rugby in Wales at all levels pro levels. We’re really looking forward to delivering a full schedule of both live and on-demand (pre-recorded) programmes, looking at elite rugby, community and grass roots level as well as being a part of the development of the game in Wales through our skills and coaching programming schedule.” Richard Owen, Director of Red Shoes added: “We’re passionate about producing great content that will deliver Welsh rugby in the raw – at its best and without being shy of asking the crunch questions.” www.welshrugby.tv

See "In Search of Gareth Hughes" - At the Left Coast Eisteddfod

We are very pleased and proud to announce that a copy of "In Search of Gareth Jones" is being made available to us by its creator, Americymru member Kelvin Guy, for showing at the Left Coast Eisteddfod in Portland . The documentary will be shown in Lola's Room in the Crystal Ballroom on Saturday August 22nd ( precise time to be announced ). For more information about Gareth Evans see below or visit the film's website HERE.

About Gareth Hughes - From the Wikipedia

Born into a working class family in Dafen, Carmarthenshire, after undertaking some local amateur roles aged 15 he walked to London and joined a West End theatre based group of Welsh players. The group took a tour to the United States, and although not successful Hughes was spotted in New York, and left the group to take a series of minor roles on Broadway. Seen by the right people, they persuaded Hughes to get involved in the new-fangled picture business.

Hughes earlier screen work was with Clara Kimball Young in Eyes of Youth, Marguerite Clark in Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. He was teamed with Viola Dana in The Chorus Girl’s Romance, and was with Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, in Sentimental Tommy, the picture which attracted immediate attention to his ability. Even though he had already appeared in many films before this,he always regarded Sentimental Tommy as his favourite and most successful. In total he made forty five films spanning 1918 to 1931.He was also the Welsh dialect coach, on The Corn Is Green made in 1945 starring Bette Davis (another Welsh connection). Ceil.B.DeMille called him “a young idealist”. Fulton Ousler describes him as” the charm boy to end all charm boys”

In 1929 like many others he lost his fortune in the Wall Street crash and was left penniless, but he carried on making films until 1931 when he appeared in Scarce Heads. He then decided to leave the world of film and return to theatre, which he had always been his first love. His last performance ran for 18 weeks at the Hollywood Playhouse in 1938, where he starred as Shylock in the Merchant of Venice.

In the early 1940s Hughes decided it was time to leave his full and exciting but also lavish and selfish lifestyle. Adopting the name of Brother David, in 1944 he became a missionary to the Paiute Indians on the Pyramid Lake Reservation of Nevada. Hughes spent almost 14 years with his “children” as he liked to call them.

In 1958 Hughes decided to return to Llanelli to spend his final years. But he longed for the sunshine of the West Coast, and after five months he returned to California. Later Hughes moved into the Motion Picture Country Home, in Woodland Hills, where he had his own cottage. He baptised silent film actress Clara Kimball Young prior to her death. There he died at the age of seventy, and his cremains were buried in a Masonic Cemetery at Reno, Nevada.

In 2008, Hughes relative Kelvin Guy made made the film Desert Padre, which premiered in Llanelli.

Welsh Country / Stories In Stone Competition Enter HERE.

Coast2Coast USA - Raising Money for the Noah's Ark Appeal and the Childrens Hospital for Wales

Santa Monica - Wikimedia Commons START

St. Augustine - Wikimedia Commons FINISH

(Follow the team's progress on their blog HERE.)

Americymru member Gareth Evans and three friends are setting out to cross the continental US by bicycle, to help raise money for the first children's hospital in Wales.

The Children's Hospital for Wales, constructed next to the Universityof Wales Hospital in Cardiff and part of the British National Health Service, is intended to treat more than 8,000 inpatients and 20,000 outpatients per year and is the first hospital in Wales dedicated solely to the treatment of children. It opened and received its first patients in March, 2005 and now includes a dedicated main entrance and child-friendly reception area for children's services, two children's medical wards with bedside parent accomodation and a pediatric oncology unit which includes its own ward, day care unit, outpatient care and parent accomodation area.

The Noah's Ark Appeal is a charity campaign to raise funds to improve and expand the children's hospital and the care it offers. Noah's Ark raised the funds to build the existing hospital facilities and to provide new equipmentand fund an art program for patients, to make the children's stay thereless frightening. People from all over Wales and celebrities including Charlotte Church and Katherine Zeta-Jones have lent their time and effort to raising money to contribute to Noah's Ark.

Gareth Evans, originally from Newcastle Emlyn and now a resident of Cardiff, is himself father of an eighteen-month old girl, Gwenno-Mai, with his wife, Eleri. Gareth and friend, Andy Edwards, came up with the idea of a challenge ride, in part to help Gareth recover from an injury that sidelined him from rugby. From there it seemed like a good idea tothem to use it to raise money for a charity and the Noah's Ark Appeal was :- "the obvious one for us." Ratcheting it up to a ride across the southern United States, from California to Florida, "was a concept of making the impossible-possible'!"

Signing on for this adventure with Gareth are: Andy Edwards, who operates an outdoor activity centre in Pendine called Morfa Bay Adventure; Richard Belcher, a cyclist originally from Kent and now living in Cardiff who has prior experience as a charity fund-raising cyclist; and Phil Jenkins, of Carmarthen, Andy Edwards' brother in law. Their support crew so far consists of: Tim Wilson, Gareth's brother in law and an army medic from Llandysul; Llandysul hotelier Andrew James, Tim's father and Gareth's father in law; Carmarthen accountant, Ian Stone; Martin Jones, also from Carmarthen; Henry Jones and one additional member still to be confirmed.

Their route will begin in Santa Monica, California, on the Pacific coast west of Los Angeles proper. They'll ride through Joshua Tree and the Mojave to Las Vegas, then on to the Grand Canoyon, Monument Valley and into Taos, New Mexico. From there on to Austin, Texas, where they've found a American-Welsh welcome stopover, then down to New Orleans, across the gulf coast and intend to finish in either Saint Augustine, Jacksonville or Daytona Beach, Florida.

The entire route covers between 3500-4000 miles and their goal is to complete it in fourteen days. Riders will ride in shifts, two at a time, and the team will have to cover about 200 miles a day. They'll have two support vehicles and are hoping for a small recreational vehicle to rest riders in between their legs of the trip and for medical and maintenance services.

The Proposed Route

Gareth hopes to make contact with as many Welsh-Americans as he can to find people willing to host them along their route, help organize fundraising activities in their hometowns and "have a bit of a bash at night time." The team may have a documentary film crew following them and they'd love to be able to show them Welsh communities in the US, as well as having a more enjoyable trip making friends than staying in a hotel room can provide.

On his team's experience and preparation for the trip, Gareth says, "We've never done anything like this before. Richard and myself met on a charity cycle from London to Paris, which was 350 miles over three days. Andy has completed the 'etape,' which is a stage of the Tour de France, a couple of times. Phil is a relative novice! We are all novices. Andy and myself used to play rugby, but had to finish due to injury. We have all been training for this over the last eighteen months, as well as maintain family life and work full time. There is no way we can predict how it will go, which adds to the excitement and apprehension. We have done what we can within the time constraints as far as phsyical preperation is concerned, but as with all endurance events - it's all in the head!"

Gareth writes that all members of the team have worked hard toward this trip, given up a lot and he looks foward to making the trip a reality and completing it successfully. "Personally, my family have made a hell of a lot of sacrifices, with regards to giving up their spare time, especially as we have a young daughter, so I want to get the challenge 'ot of the way,' to spend time with them. We have worked towards this for two years by the time we start. We must finish it. Anything else would be a failure. The fact that we aim to do it within two weeks just adds to the challenge. I have no doubt that we will complete it, unless the worst happens. I also know that the rest of the guys have given up a lot, as have their families, so the hope I have is that all four of
us start together at Santa Monica and all four of us finish (hopefully greeted by our families) in Florida."

Their target is to raise £50,000 for the appeal, or $88,500.00. They are a bit over halfway to their goal but at this point the team needs to focus on physical preparations for their trip. They need assistance in raising more donations, creating attention for the campaign, and help and welcome along the way. In Toas, New Mexico, a photographer has volunteered to photograph them, a fundraiser is being organized and the community is putting the team members up for the night. If anyone can help, Gareth asks, "Please support us. If you're along the route, why not organise an event for us, or even try and host us for the evening - village halls, camper beds, anything! Please highlight the challenge and charty amongst your friends and family stateside, and relatives back here in wales. Any ideas you have would be massively appreciated."

You can contact Gareth Evans here on his member page or through the team's website. Let's all help them make their trip an incredible success.