iCambria - The Blog of Wales

‘THE LAND IS IN ITS PRIME’ SAID TONY, WHOSE COWS INHABIT THE FIELDS AROUND US. I had been commenting on the beautiful weather and luxurious growth of grass. Looking down the Tywi Valley bursting with health and vitality, it seems the perfect description of a promising early summer. Long may it remain so.

It seems to me that recycling is common sense, if something can be used again, use it again, otherwise it is sheer profligacy. We live in bounteous times, in many ways no other generation has had it as easy as we have, yet we take it for granted; many of our day-to-day luxuries have become necessities. I don’t ever want to have to do without a washing machine. The thought of having to heat water manually for a bath is quite exhausting and off-putting. If we at cambria can use it again, we do. Many of you, perhaps, have experienced our recycled envelopes - I hope you don’t mind. We have had the odd rare complaint, but I believe that most of you will applaud our intentions. Please forgive this quirk as it is something we believe we should be doing, and we will continue to do so.

In the last issue of the magazine we ran an article on bio-mass. In this issue we are following it up with a piece on wood burning boilers. We hope that over time, this series of articles will build into an overview of the options available as against contemporary electrical, oil-fired and hot water heating systems. Until recently alternatives to electricity or oil were prohibitively expensive to install, but this is no longer the case. Perhaps in the future many of us will become self-sufficient in terms of power, perhaps harnessing energy via individual small turbines (not from those state-sponsored environmentally inimicable monstrosities), or from streams, solar panels, ground-source heating systems, or using wood-fired boilers.

Cambria certainly gets around, and sometimes surprises even us with its whereabouts. The other day we gained a new subscriber after the magazine had been found on a coffee table in the reception area of an hotel in Indonesia. Over the years we have had tales of babies, boats and even a farm in the Yemen (the banner of Owain Glyndŵr is flown on the gate posts) being named after Cambria.

As an afterthought, I do not think of myself as a particularly political animal but it staggers me when I find that people don’t - or even can’t be bothered - to vote. I regard it not only as a right but as a privilege for which I am extremely grateful - less than a hundred years ago women died so that I might have the vote. I would guess that the majority of our readers do vote, but I am sometimes surprised hearing about those who don’t. Every vote matters, even if you think many politicians are a useless lot! Your vote is Wales’s defence - and her future.

June 20th, 2009 | Tags: Editorial | Category: Editorial | | Leave a comment

CLIVE BETTS WROTE HIS FIRST COLUMN FOR US IN AUTUMN 2003, this will be the first issue since then not to be graced with his pen. He has given up his office at the Assembly but will continue as a contributor. In future his writing will emphasise individual stories focused around interviews with key characters, concentrating more on policies which affect the people of Wales and why they have been adopted, rather than on the nitty-gritty of party-politics. For the next issue he is interviewing Alun Ffred Jones on what is happening within his heritage portfolio.

You will see a letter from Terry Breverton on windfarms - it has never been our policy to stop printing letters on this subject, although it is true that we have cut back on them. We received so many on the subject but we also had complaints that we were in danger of becoming a ‘one issue’ magazine. The vast majority of these letters were anti-wind energy, many of them emotional, some scientific. I can assure you that we are not going to stop publishing them altogether, but there are so many other issues of importance which face us in Wales today and we feel it our duty to maintain a balance. The editorial policy of this magazine was established a long time ago and should be quite clear to all our readers. cambria opposes windfarms in Wales for three reasons. First, if tourism is to remain a key industry, and one on which we will rely heavily in the coming years, windfarms on a Welsh horizon, however remote the location, cannot but have a negative effect on encouraging visitors coming to Wales to enjoy the

pleasures of unspoilt countryside. Second, the alliance between the wind energy industry and central government with the system of sweeteners and grants that go with it appears to operate more in the interests of multi-national conglomerates and their profits than making scientific sense. This leads on to the third point, as to whether covering the entire country with wind turbines of massive size, with all the associated ancillary construction and infrastructure would ever provide more than 10 percent of our energy needs. The other 90 percent has to come from other resources. The equation involving the correlation between energy production, carbon footprint and environmental impact does not have a positive outcome. That said, hoorah for his last paragraph.

Reading through the proofs I am delighted by the quality of the articles and their subjects. Siôn Jobbins article, as always, provides interesting food for thought: an assessment of the relationship between Wales and Ireland becomes a rumination on the responsibilities of nationhood.

The pictures of the St. David’s Day Parade provide a happy reminder of a beautiful day, not only sunny but actually warm, and the atmosphere was a perfect reflection of the weather. It was the biggest Parade to date, and yet was marginalized and largely ignored by a declining Welsh press. A big thank you to all who came and supported it, to the partners: The National Assembly and Cardiff City Council, to all the sponsors, and to those who year-in year-out give freely of their time to make it possible.

Lastly, owing to our patrons’ advisers’ and readers’ suggestions, The Friends of Cambria will be launched officially at a reception this summer. Details will be published in our next issue.

March 26th, 2009 | Tags: clive betts, Editorial, windfarms | Category: Editorial | | Leave a comment

A very successful and enjoyable Parade was held in Cardiff on March 1st.

If you were there and would like a high quality print to commemorate the occasion please contact us and order through us (Prices range from £14.99 -45.00 depending on size) (Postage is £1.50 in the UK). Remember to note the image number in your enquiry. Contact us for more  details .

The album of photos can be seen … HERE
Photos taken by and copyright c. Gareth ap Sion

March 9th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized | | Leave a comment

Frances Jones-Davies

TIME KALEIDOSCOPES IN A STRANGE WAY. SOME THINGS SEEM AN AGE AWAY BUT WERE ONLY WEEKS, others seem like yesterday yet a year has gone by.
St. David’s day will be here in the blink of an eyelid. This year it is on a Sunday, and come rain, wind or snow, sunshine we hope, (over the past few years we have experienced them all) we will be there, and it would be lovely to see as many cambria readers as possible. Last year I had to drive down to the bay as I was on ‘taxi duty’, but this meant that I could stand on Lloyd George Avenue with a bursting heart and appreciate the full affect, the crowds and excited children, the music, the dancers, the camaraderie. This year it promises to be even more of a spectacle. Come and make a day out of it.

We are putting more and more on our website www.cambriamagazine.com, supplementary information and more pictures can often be found there. If you were at an event covered in Onlooker it is quite possible you may find yourself on the website! Sadly there is only limited space in the magazine, and I particularly wish there had been more room for photographs of the Pembrokeshire Banner. It was wonderful to see all those ladies stitching away, conferring carefully, and the design of the banner taking shape.

For those keen on travel - which must include almost all our readers - Phil Carradice has made some recommendations with several very good tips, also on our site, and well worth reading even if you are not actually planning a visit to Darjeeling!

This issue seems to have a more political slant than usual; perhaps that is what the time is calling for. As I have probably said before, each issue starts with an identity we ourselves impose but as the weeks go by it asserts its own. As it stands at the moment the next issue looks particularly historical, although to bring it firmly into the present we will have an interview with Cerys Matthews  who will be appearing with Bryn Terfel and a host of others at Celtfest09 in Cardiff ’s CIA on 21st March.

I read the other day that the third Monday of January is, psychologically, the most miserable day of the year! This year that wasn’t at all surprising considering the forecasts of doom and gloom with which we are currently being bombarded.
Over the years we (in general) have come to regard one-time luxuries as necessities: whether the globe is warming or cooling (the debate still rages), whether our CO2 emissions make a difference or not, we have certainly become profligate in our use of resources and so perhaps it will be good for us to learn not to be so wasteful in future. In valuing rather than taking for granted there comes a certain satisfaction and happiness.

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

February 28th, 2009 | Tags: cambria, Editorial | Category: Editorial | | Leave a comment

Nadolig Llawen

In this issue Patrick Thomas gives us a welcome glimpse of Christmas past. I shall think of him at 9.30 am on Christmas morning as I sit in our nice warm church, doubly grateful that I am not there at that dark cold hour bridging night and day, however inspiring Daniel Rowlands might have been. Patrick will probably be surprised to hear that thanks to him the old tradition of Calennigs has been re-introduced in our village.

My boys and a few of their friends thought this a brilliant idea and now the afternoon of New Year’s Eve is a fever of activity, decorating oranges with cloves, and turning them into candle holders, which are then hung from sticks and a merry troop, muffled and hopeful of rather more than a penny, do a tour of the village. The older residents generally give them a warm welcome, some jokers pay them to go away, (this could be down to the fact that they haven’t practised quite as much as they should and are not as harmonious as they might be ) but this is every bit as popular! Some ask to what charity is the money going, and when the boys say it is for them - the old tradition - they are turned away, and not always very politely.

It is something of a shock to realise that the year is nearly over; in many ways it hardly seems to have started and certainly hasn’t conducted itself properly at all. Its unfolding has proved an illustration of that old Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times. Well, we certainly do here in the Cambria offices. When the magazine first started I was chronically mistaken in thinking that it would become a routine, although, of course, deadlines and an ongoing cycle of production dictate a certain measure of this, routine is definitely not the word I would use to describe our working life. The more we discover of our history, of amazing and interesting people, the wonders and beauties of Wales, the more apparent it becomes that there is still so much more to know. Recently, Robin Gwyndaf told me of how very privileged he felt to have been able to interview over 3000 people in the course of research during his time at the National History Museum at St. Fagan’s. ‘The greatest joy of all’ he said ‘is not to keep the treasure in a dark room … but to share the treasure with others’. We feel that we are immensely lucky to be in a similar position.

‘Presented to Henry Jones-Davies founder of Cambria and the National St. David’s Day Parade by David Graham Thomas, 2008′ - so runs the dedication engraved on a fine crystal vase presented to Cambria’s publisher by David Graham Thomas of Castell Nedd last month. Mr Thomas is a man whose name, I would like to think, will one day be familiar to many. A proud and fearless patriot, he is an indefatigable letter-writer to politicians, statesmen and the media; always on the subject of Wales, her place in the world, highlighting injustice, hypocrisy and duplicity, speaking up for our people: praising where due, criticising - and excoriating - where deserved. I would like to thank him for the great honour he has done Cambria’s publisher.

As you read Cambria there are many ideas for gifts, jewellery and books, nice things to eat, or give something different: a voucher or promise of a day out. I like the story of the man who walked many, many miles to deliver a coconut as a present to a friend. When the recipient remarked on the great lengths the man had gone to deliver the gift the man replied ‘Walk part of gift!’

From all at Cambria, Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda.

Frances Jones-Davies
Editor

December 5th, 2008 | Tags: christmas, Editorial, xmas | Category: Editorial | | Leave a comment