That's It For Another Year

The sun has set on the eisteddfod at Llanelli. As if to show how sad the town is to see it go, the heavens opened on Sunday. I am sure those left to take down the site have their work cut out and there have been intermittent bursts of sunshine for them too. I am sure that this must have been one of the most successful eisteddfods of all time financially and that is testimony to the people of Llanelli and Wales in general as well as the many people who came from outside of Wales. Yesterday I started putting together a soundscape of the interviews and recordings I made over the week. Interestingly it was picked up by a blogger in St Louis, USA Mr. Swansea Jack, now there's an American name if ever there was. Swansea took it on himself to promote the blog as well as my photographs of the eisteddfod on my website and for that I am grateful. There are numerous Welsh societies dotted across America and Swansea belongs to one such society the St Louis Welsh Society . Many of the members are 2nd, 3rd or fourth generation Welsh but Swansea is a Jack through and through. He moved out there following a career and a beautiful Irish woman. Behind every great man eh? I would like to think the many people who have taken the time to read this blog and I hope it has given you a good impression of my home town Llanelli of which, I am very proud. In the rugby world there has alway been a friendly rivalry between the Swansea people (Jacks) and the Llanelli people (Turks). It is good to see that this continues even on blogs as can be seen on Swansea's blog Keep checking back here as I am editing more videos and sound to upload here as movies.

The Rantings Of A Welshman Abroad

Swansea Jack's new venture: World Wide Welsh Stwff: Maybe I should explain: ‘ Stwff ’ is what we Taffs (people from Wales – for those who don’t know what a ‘Taff’ is) say for ‘Stuff’, see? ...

CHAIRS, PEACE & PALESTINE

It is fascinating to see and hear so many different people in one place. The keen eared can hear many different accents. The Maes is big enough to accommodate a huge amount of people yet it is relatively easy to spot one's friends, family or neighbours along the way. Some of the highlights for me today were watching the children participating in the technology area. So many great ideas, experiments, construction kits, problems to solve and machines to operate. As I get older I am always on the look out for a comfy seat and the Maes did not disappoint. There are picnic tables, benches, deck chairs, sofas, comfy chairs, beanbags and even the odd piano if one is so inclined. There are of course some serious issues in the world today and the Eisteddfod does not shy away from them. There are a large number of organisations promoting peace and understanding as well as aid to many countries ravaged by war. As I was leaving today I watched a quiet group of people forming a line along one of the fences. They were unfurling what looked like a giant scarf and they were holding banners and flags promoting peace and raising an awareness of events in Gaza. I started the day watching young men clog dancing, jumping up over brooms and boxes.I ended the day with the sounds of a song for peace gently floating towards the crowds enjoying the sunshine. Heddwch? Yes, on the maes at least.

FAMILY DAY

Today was a family day for me so not so many photos.We left Pontyates early and it looked like rain (now there's a thing). We stopped off at the post office and emptied the savings account. I overheard a conversation between Beti and Doris about pills and 15 mils and i'm still not right. Whatever could it mean? The best made plans are laid to waste so they say. We had no plan except to go and experience whatever came our way. Call it a social experiment in Wenglish. We did practice or at least try to speak some Welsh on the way down. On arrival my wife duly handed over £36 to get in KERCHING! Within a short period of time they wanted drinks so my wife handed over £6 KERCHING! I was under the misguided impression that all the activities were free. So it was we eagerly made our way to the climbing wall, we were the first and only family there. As the boys geared up we were asked for £3 each KERCHING! Things were getting bad. I had to dip into the stash in my sock. After a visit to a few of the tents and stages the children were hungry and thirsty again. We headed for the chip van and duly paid £2.50 for each of the three small portions of chips and an additional £1 for a tiny pot of curry KERCHING! I am a past master at sourcing freebies as any of my friends will attest to. I was soon able to direct my children towards the bins containing FREE lollipops. The temptation to keep sending them to empty the bin and thereby set up a stall selling lollipops for £1 each was overpowering me. I resisted mainly because my wife highlighted the shame it would bring upon us if we got caught. Elkanah is 14 and sort of hormonal. Noah is 11 and interesting. Theia is 2 and full of life. The trouble is that you can't please all of them all of the time and while there is something for everyone, I could see that Elkanah was finding it a struggle to get excited about anything. Theia on the other hand was mugging most of the furry costumed people or else dancing along with the folk dancers. Noah likes science so he enjoyed the science area and the opportunity to fly a biplane simulator. It is a big place to get around and many of the paths are made up of stone so Angharad struggled a little pushing Theia around even though we brought her all terrain tricycle. I said it was a family day for us but it is always difficult to stick to the plan when you see the First minister next to Sali Mali or Dewi Pus hitching a lift with a sign saying CRYMI. I usually stay the course and get around the Maes feeling slightly tired by the end of the day. Today felt like a major expedition and we were unable to get past 3 o'clock before the children started showing signs of Eisteddfodmaesyphobia. Put that in the Welsh dictionary. We headed off through the masses gathered to hear Rhys Meirion belting out a song. Back to normal tomorrow as I get back to the business of taking photographs.

EISTEDDFOD NEWS

More news, photos, videos and archives from the Eisteddfod on World Wide Celtic Community

BREAKFAST AND A GRAND PROCESSION

There is a fair selection of places to eat and drink on the maes. If you are minted then it must be cafe pl@iad. If you are half minted then it will be the vast array of trailers selling everything from cockles to crepes. If you are like me and penniless then it will be the cafe just opposite the Graig school. Don't get me wrong, there isn't much difference between all three except for some plush surroundings and swanky looking folks in one and the n'er do wells in the other. So it was that I chose the plush surroundings and swanky company of Steff's Cafe opposite the Graig. A breakfast costs £4.25 and I have to say it was the nicest breakfast I have had in years. Beautiful bacon, sausages, mushrooms, egg, beans and toast and not a drop of grease on the plate. Lovely comfy wicker chairs and cafe tables outside or comfortable chairs and wooden tables inside. Service was quick and friendly and I even spotted the hoi poloi from the BBC there. I will give it Seren Pump! I hobbled my way back to the maes and had a 5 minute nap on a bench just to allow the lovely food to do its work. Behold I heard trumpets playing and for a second I thought I had bought it. As I felt my limbs, opened my eyes and saw the familiar surroundings of families enjoying the sunshine, I realised that I was still Earth bound and that the trumpeting was coming from the pink tent or Y Pafiliwn. I hot footed it to a ringside seat for the beginning of the crowning ceremony. Not having been to one before apart from distant relatives in Windsor I duly knelt on the floor in front of the Welsh hoi poloi and waited. Out of the throngs came men and women dressed in robes of all colours bedecked in gold with fairy like girls walking behind them. More trumpeting and more people climbing the silver steps onto the stage. Then like the blitz, spot lights fanning the audience as if to find a single individual. The audience broke into a slow clap as the robed people walked around the seating area looking for someone until a loud cheer revealed that he had been found. It was Gutto Dafydd, one of the youngest winners of the Eistedfod crown. Gutto was led down the steps and onto the stage where proclamations were made. Dancing flower girls circled and flew around the stage in front of two enormous wooden chairs seating Gutto and the Arch Druid Christine James. The crown was brought forward and placed on Gutto's head. More clapping and the robed masses left the stage to exit onto the maes. Meanwhile I managed to get off the floor, unclamp my knees and chase after the throngs to get some unique portraits of these mysterious people in white blue and green.

SO THIS IS WALES

The last few days have been extremely hard work covering the Eisteddfod. The site is quite large to get around so there is lots of walking. I am struck by how calm and friendly the place is. Everyone is smiling or doing something. The children seem to be at play everywhere on the site. I do enjoy seeing and meeting people through the work. Each day reveals something lovely be it a child immersed in writing or an elderly person absorbed in conversation at a table full of cakes and tea cups. It really is the quintessential portrait of the Welsh. Wherever you look there are the colours of the Welsh flag, dragons, political parties, educational institutions, children's groups, folk dancers, clog dancers, harpists, choirs, farmers and farming implements, church and chapel groups and so many more things we associate with Wales. I spent a little more time in the pavillion today and saw some wonderful performances by children and teenagers. Why then do they get such a bad press? One boy danced his way around an enormous stage filling it with his sheer energy. CHildren leapt high into the air with twists and turns to rival the Royal Ballet. Even though the choirs sang the same songs, each sounded different. The harpists were mesmerisingly beautiful both in appearance and sound. No weeping today just lots of observation of Welsh life at its best in a field in Pwll, Llanelli.

MORE PHOTOS FROM THE MAES

More images from today's performances and the crowning ceremony on alanevansphotography.com

CROWN AWARDED

Guto Dafydd is the winner of the Crown at the National Eisteddfod in Carmarthenshire.

GET DOWN TO TY GWERIN

I am finding my way around the maes nicely at the moment. My method is to study the map in the evening along with the schedule for the day. I highlight which events I would like to see and then forget about all of that when I arrive. It is far nicer to do as Dawnswyr Tawerin do and go in a circle. So that is what I do, I go around and around the maes looking for things of interest. Ty Gwerin is one such place. It is so lovely to watch these people demonstrate the old dances of Wales. The costumes are wonderful as is the accompanying music. One can be transported back in time to a much more gentle way of life, why they even have chairs for the audience to sit on. I prefer the bales of hay myself. IF you are going down to the woods (Stradey) today you are sure in for a big surprise IF you visit Ty Gwerin at 11 o'clock.

TWIN TOWN, LLANELLI & HOLLYWOOD

I am not a stalker of celebs but now and again one gets in your way as you are photographing something good. In this case it was actor Rhys Ifans. He was in shot as I was trying to photograph the Welsh language stall.As it happens he got in my way later on in the day in the art centre as I was lining up a shot of a wall. There was an awkward moment where he appeared to acknowledge me and I him but the mutters turned to 'sorry' as we sidestepped each other and went our separate ways. I noticed that this guy has a habit of getting in people's way as whenever I saw him through the day he was bumped up against young women.

Llyn y Fan Fach by Dawnswyr Talog

MEN DON'T CRY UNLESS IT'S FOR MYFANWY

Another day at the Eisteddfod and this time I took another route through mountain lanes arriving at the Pwll end to a glorious view of the Gower coastline. I remember someone once saying that we were the lucky ones in Llanelli as we look out onto the Gower while 'THEY' look onto Llanelli. Well this week must be an exception as they look over and see the maes in all its glory. I roamed around as usual looking for my victims. They came by way of elderly people just exiting the morning worship service. Damn they looked smart all suited and booted and in their sunday best. although the main areas were relatively empty at this time of the morning there were unusually large crowds of people standing around chatting or else sitting down enjoying a cuppa. Some thumbed through maps and programmes and some looked utterly lost. Sometimes you just walk into something and that something hits you like a ton of Trimsaran bricks. This was the case as I entered one of the theatres and came face to face with Dawnswyr Talog performing Llyn y Fan Fach. It started quietly with the narrator in top hat and tails telling us the story of Llyn y Fan Fach. Gradualy the stage filled with dancers looking beautiful in Llyn y Fan Fach blue dresses. The main characters burst onto the stage and the energy levels were stepped up. A Welsh lady (Mum) chased and belted her son around the stage as he kept asking for fresh bread. The bread I assume was to give to the lady of the lake who duly arrived and wowed us all with her dancing, singing and acting. The story unfurled and after numerous dances involving jumping vets and the whole cast the pair were wed, had a baby and lived happily ever after. The finale saw the cast taking a bow and receiving a tremendous applause form a packed theatre. I was so glad I accidently walked into that one. In short the story of Myfanwy is that many men went to Dinas Brân to court her, but she had nothing to do with them, even if they were rich and handsome because they were unable to compose and sing poems that supposedly reflected the depth of her beauty. Only one man, Hywel ap Einion, a penniless young bard who lived in the valley below the castle, was said to have the talent to satisfy Myfanwy. Luckily, Hywel was in love with Myfanwy, and one day he plucked up the courage to climb up the hill to the castle with his harp, to sing and play to her. He was allowed in to play for her, and while playing and complimenting her on her beauty she was said to have been unable to either listen or look at any other man. Because of this Hywel believed that she had fallen in love with him. But his hopes were dashed when a richer, more handsome and more eloquent lover arrived on the scene. Hywel, discarded and quickly forgotten by Myfanwy, composed a poem to his lost love: If Myfanwy had been in the pink pavillion today she would have been won over by a number of men and women who formed the Cardiff Brass Band. Their rendition of Myfanwy was outstanding and yes, once more I wept. All the thoughts of family and friends living and dead filled my head. Music has the power to trigger so much memory. That is one performance I will remember for many years to come.

What A Difference A Day Makes

ANGELS SANG AND I WEPT

The world really is a strange place but sometimes a microcosm of the world comes together for a particular event and it reveals itself as a place of beauty, of passion and of community. This is no more evident than at the Eisteddfod in Llanelli. I don't mean the executive businesses with state of the art exhibition stands and equipment, nor the publicly funded institutions selling their own particular way of educating people. I am referring to the community organisations who took up smaller, modest stands somewhat on the fringes of the maes. These were the churches, the chapels, the W.I. Merched Y Wawr, Cylch Meithrin and a myriad of other organisations offering help, support, friendship, belonging, caring and participation. Here were people who make up the community and appear to me at least to be the heart and soul of the Eisteddfod. No corporate images, no high prices. A cup of tea, a glass of squash, some Bara Brith or Welshcakes all for a donation of your choosing. They are happy to talk to you and tell you of their work like one of the teachers at Ysgol Heol Goffa or the people running the Josef Herman Foundation keeping the memory of Joe Bach alive. Then there are the competitors from all four corners of Wales. Brass bands, choirs, dancers, poets and artists as well as many school children making the long journey to perform on one of the biggest stages of their lives. So it was that I entered the kingdom of heaven ever so briefly as I watched and listened to a mixed choir. I closed my eyes and the angelic voices transported me to somewhere away from the terrible imagery of women and children being slaughtered in Gaza. As those images snuck into my head again coupled with the unearthly combined voices of ordinary men and women, I shed a few tears. Today was a blue sky day where families enjoyed the open air and warm sunshine. Children played, painted, sang, danced and ran freely. I was thankful that they could do that and I was thankful that for a while, this wonderful festival enveloped and embraced me and I am sure the many hundreds of other people far away and free from war.

EISTEDDFOD

Y Capel ar y Bryn

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL GARDEN

Mr. Malcolm Williams tending his garden in Elgin Road, Pwll in the shadow of the chapel and overlooking the Maes at this year's Eisteddfod in Llanelli.

Eisteddfod Day 1

One could be forgiven for thinking the monsoon season had started today. The rain came down in sheets. It was with a heavy heart that I left the comfort of tea and biscuits to head of to my home town of Llanelli. I took the scenic route over the Trimsaran mountain with the Welsh farms and cottages looking lovely even in the rain. Many were draped with the red white and green of Wales and numerous Welsh flags flew on makeshift poles or else were cellotaped to the insides of windows. My first glimpse of the Maes came as I turned down St Margaret's Drive near Stradey Park. The sight was impressive with the backdrop of the Gower coastline. I parked up along one of the side roads and walked along Sandy Road looking at the houses bedecked in bunting and flags. The rain had taken its toll on the site and pools of water were now formed and had been made a murky grey having been mixed with the temporary hardcore. No wellies for me, I preferred a pair of stout walking boots. I waltzed in and sought out some help and guidance from the man at the gate. He directed me to the ticket office from where I was to pick up my press pass. Alas, even with technology,it was not ready. It gave me time to take a look at the site and visit some of the halls. First stop was the main pavillion 'the pink tent'. It is very impressive both in scale and layout. The stage was enormous and it was already well in use as children and adults went through their paces for tonight's opening show. Having sampled some of this wonderful rehearsal I ventured out into the daylight once more and behold the rain had stopped. People were busy setting up tents, stands and assorted displays. I made a note of the location of the coffee shop and proceeded to nose around the maes. There is something for everyone on the site. Lots of catering stalls, decent toilets, numerous exhibition stands from tractors to baking. There is a play area, a science area,book shops, a theatre, various smaller halls, a sports area, every major university in Wales appears to be there too. There are lots of sign posts and the paths are wide and manageable with picnic and seating areas dotted around the grassy banks. I left the site to get some distant shots of the maes and made my way up to Elgin Road in Pwll. I happened to meet a gentleman by the name of Malcolm Williams. He told me that he had been watching the place being set up for around 5 weeks. 'Why have they called it Eisteddfod Carmarthenshire'? he asked.'This is Llanelli.' A proud Llanelli man he remembered the old industries which once occupied the same site. It really is hard to believe that it was anything else as we looked down onto this wonderful view stretching from the Llanelli docks right across to Worms Head on the Gower. The only thing that was missing was the sunshine. I asked for directions up to the CROESO sign high up on one of the hills overlooking Pwll. Malcolm directed me to a path, which he assured me would lead me to the said sign. After an hour of beating my way through head high undergrowth I gave up and made my way back down, soaked to the skin. Was it worth it? A resounding YES!