Wednesday 7 July

[Kath Mulligan]

After our somewhat premature visit to Llangollen last Wednesday, we went again today to see the Kinder Children's Choir compete in the Senior Children's Choir section of the Eisteddfod. To our absolute delight, they won, beating off some strong competition from choirs from Wales, England, USA, Australia, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Czech Republic. We were so thrilled and proud of them, and it brought back so many happy memories of our years of involvement with the Choir when the girls were younger.

It was such a lovely colourful day. The delightful Sri Lankan choir looked gorgeous in their bright costumes, and they sang beautifully too. I think they came joint 5th which surprised us because we both thought they would have been higher placed than that. There was a Californian Madrigal Choir too who were dressed in mediaeval costumes that looked stunning but gosh, I'll bet they were sweltering as it was very hot and humid in the Pavilion.

For anyone who wants a look, here is the link to the Llangollen TV website where clips of the performances can be viewed - www.llangollen.tv/en/clip/19 (http://www.llangollen.tv/en/clip/19) - that is the Kinder Choir performance, but you can also view all the others too.

Since I had a text message this morning from the friend who I am going to Norfolk with in September, telling me that she became a grandma for the second time - her elder daughter had a little girl - it has been a very good day all round.

Kath

[Sybille Weber]

Pleased to hear you had a lovely day at Llangollen, Kath, after last week's premature visit.
Sounds a great event to take pictures, too. We have been to Wales several times but unfortunately never visited an Eisteddfod.

[Kath Mulligan]

Elizabeth took quite a few photos at Llangollen, Sybille and has posted them on Facebook, and "shared" them with me so you should be able to see them too.

Kath

[jane jackson]

Glad you and Elizabeth had such a good day Kath on your 2nd trip, well worth the earlier mix up as you got 2 days to enjoy.

[adesmith]

Glad that you had a good day on your second visit, Kath. I have lived in Wales for many years and I have never been to the Llangollen Eisteddfod although it is always on the news. I have never been to the main Eisteddfod which tours Wales either. It was in Cardiff recently but I still never made it! I am put off by the Welsh speaking a bit and sometimes you feel that you wouldnt be made as welcome as a non-Welsh speaker. A couple of years ago one of the speakers spoke a few words in English and he was booed off - they said 'shame' and made racist remarks. Of course they use it to promote Welsh and so anyone is welcome really. I am not sure where it is this year, its normally in August. Of course I have been to many school Eisteddfods, in and around St Davids Day.

[Kath Mulligan]

The announcements at Llangollen are done partly in Welsh but mostly in English since there are lots of people there from all over the world. We watched quite a bit of S4C (SC4?) on Thursday and Friday as they were covering a lot of the competitions but it was quite frustrating since obviously it was all in Welsh, and most of the choirs that were being interviewed were Welsh too but it was interesting to see other choirs in different competions, and to see some of the folk dance groups too.

The atmosphere at Llangollen is lovely, so friendly and relaxed but I do know what you mean about sometimes feeling excluded by Welsh speakers. We had a holiday on the West Wales coast near Aberaron some years ago and we were made to feel quite uncomfortable and unwelcome in the shops around there, so much so that we vowed we would never visit that area again.

Yet when we holidayed on the Gower, another strongly Welsh speaking area, people there couldn't have been more friendly and obliging.

Kath

[adesmith]

The people in the North and further West are much more 'Welsh' and I have heard many tales of people being made to feel uncomfortable. The main Eisteddfod is really all about the Welsh language and a celebration of culture so I guess you can see why they are so protective/defensive of the language. I really must go one day. I think that I have said before, that I have learnt a small amount of incidental Welsh at school and Rupert comes home from Cherubs with new Welsh phrases. He can count to ten in Welsh as well!

[Sybille Weber]

We spent two holidays on a farm near Harlech years ago. Our hosts were a really lovely couple, and while Mrs. J. usually talked in English to us, her husband spoke Welsh to us most of the time hoping we would pick up some of the language. They also had evenings where they sang in Welsh. We still get Christmas cards from them, and of course the Christmas greeting is in Welsh, too. They know we don't speak the language, but they don't bother really and keep using the language, however, if you know the two you find this very charming.