Category: Readers Articles of Interest

Welsh Traditions 7 Calan Gaeaf

WELSH TRADITIONS 7

CALAN GAEAF.

In this last article in the series of Welsh Traditions we’ll look briefly at the traditions associated with Calan Gaeaf. I’m sure you’ll remember that ‘Calan’ is a Welsh word meaning ‘the first day of’’ – as in Calan Mai (May Day). Calan Gaeaf celebrates the first day of winter – All Hallows Day on 1st November.

Calan Gaeaf originates from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which celebrated the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. It was also the end of the ‘slaughtering season’ when animals were slaughtered and their meat prepared for winter. It was indeed the end of the agricultural year – and it was also the beginning of the Celtic Year.

The Celtic calendar divided the year in two – the light season and the dark season and Samhain marked the first day of the dark season – when it was believed that the doors dividing the world of the living from the spirit world were wide open. Noson Calan Gaeaf – All Saints Eve was one of the three ‘Spirit Nights’, (May Day Eve and St John’s Festival Eve being the other two) – when the spirits of the dead and ghosts roamed freely – and were believed to gather in cemeteries, at crossroads and on stiles (for some reason!!). Some of these ghosts took on particular characterisations and two of the most common were said to be the headless White Lady and the Tail-less Black Sow. Tales of the White Lady are known to go back to Celtic times.

As with other celebrations which mark certain times of the year, it is an opportunity to bring some colour and revelry into the lives of the people, whose everyday lives were often hard – lacking in colour and lacking in just plain fun. Swedes were often carved and placed alongside roads and footpaths, with a burning candle inside. This is obviously the precursor of today’s practice of pumpkin carving. Bonfires were usually lit – on a hilltop if that were possible – and groups of local youths would compete to see whose bonfire burnt the longest. People would dance around the fire with apples and potatoes roasted in the embers. Ghost stories and traditional folk tales would entertain the cavorters – especially the children who enjoyed being frightened with tales of the White Lady and the Black Sow!

Much superstition was also attributed to this time of year especially in a fortune telling capacity. The main questions to be answered were who was to be married and who was to meet an untimely death – and there were various ways of finding the answer. In some areas, every person would write his or her name on a pebble and throw it into the ashes of the dying fire. In the morning everyone would turn up to search for the pebbles – and if one was missing, that person was believed to be facing death in the near future. Another means of foretelling death in some areas was to run around the church three times before midnight, and then look through the keyhole

to see whose faces would be shown. These people were the people doomed to die during the coming year. In the Llandysul area three bowls would be filled – one with soil, one with water containing sediment and one with clean water. The participant would be blindfolded and would be asked to touch one of the bowls. The first prophesied death before marriage, the second a troubled marriage and the third a successful marriage.

It was popular for young, unmarried girls to peel an apple or an orange and throw the peel over their shoulder, in the hope that it would form the initial letter of their true love. In Montgomeryshire a mash of nine ingredients would be cooked, which included potatoes, carrots, turnips, peas, parsnips, leeks, pepper and salt and mixed with milk. In the centre a wedding ring was placed and each participant would taste a spoonful of the mash. The person lucky enough to find the ring was certain of an imminent marriage! In other areas girls were instructed to grow a rose in the shape of a large hoop, go through the circle three times prior to cutting a rose, and placing it under their pillows. This allowed them to see into the future. Another means of seeing the future was for unmarried women to darken their rooms during Noson Calan Gaeaf, and then look into the mirror to see the face of the future groom. If a skull appeared in the mirror, the unmarried woman was meant to die within the year. Young lads were not forgotten either. The boys were instructed to cut 10 leaves of ivy, throw one away and put the other nine under their pillows. Apparently, this allowed the boys to see the future, and if they touched the ivy then they would see witches in their sleep.

Once the bonfire had died down, the children were encouraged to run to their homes. Traditional verses were chanted stating that the White Lady or the Black Sow would catch the last child and carry him or her away. This was one way of getting the children to go straight home!! In some areas, men would roam the local area – dressed up in the guise of one or other of the feared apparitions. Once safely back home, the children – and adults – would play games such as apple bobbing or the more dangerous version of trying to bite a dangling apple which also had a candle attached!

As at Christmas and May Day celebrations groups of youngsters would walk around the villages singing traditional songs. In Glamorgan, the boys dressed in girls’ clothing and girls dressed in boys’ clothing. In other parts of Wales, the singers would blacken their faces and wear fleeces on their shoulders.

Calan Gaeaf falls on the eve of All Souls Day on 2nd November of course – but nowadays both festivals have merged to become Halloween – with the bonfires lit a couple of days later on Guy Fawkes Day. Unfortunately, today, our traditions and customs have been overtaken by the American ‘Trick or Treat’ activities.

Ann M. Jones

Welsh Traditions 7 – Traditions associated with death and funerals

WELSH TRADITIONS 7

Traditions associated with death and funerals

We’ll begin by going back to Pre-Christian and pre-Roman times to consider how the Celts buried their dead. The ancient Celtic religion – known as Celtic Paganism – was the religion of the Celtic peoples of Europe – and the priests of this religion were known as Druids – but very little is known about them.

Nicole Evelina writes -‘For a warrior people, it’s not surprising that to the Celts, the most honorable death was to die in battle. Depending on the time period and which tribe you were in, you might be buried, cremated or have your ashes buried. In pre-Christian times, many graves contained items needed for the next world, from chariots and weapons to food, wine, money and clothing. There is some evidence that the Celts practised human sacrifice, but not likely on a large scale.

The Celts believed in reincarnation. Some sources say they only believed you could come back in human form, but others argue you could be reincarnated as an animal or plant, too. Mythology seems to support this later theory as in our ancient tales, we learn that the Cauldron of Rebirth was able to revive the dead. Pre-Christian Celts believed in an after-death Otherworld (Annwn in Welsh mythology), a resting place between incarnations’.

We know that the body was washed before burial, wrapped in a thin shirt and laid out surrounded by burning candles. During this time feasts and games were held in honour of the deceased – and food and money would be left for him or her to use in the next life. This was the forerunner of the modern ‘wake’ of course. On the day of the funeral a Druid would visit to measure the corpse – to make sure that it would fit in the grave. He would also whisper instructions in his ear of how to reach the Other World’.

Bodies were cremated or buried in single cairns or graves – or in a burial chamber where multiple bodies were buried. We have two of these burial tombs – from an earlier time – near us here in Wenvoe namely the Cromlech at Tinkinswood and the smaller one at St Lythans. Both these date from the New Stone Age and are over 6,000 years old – about 1,000 years older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids in Egypt.

Coming a little closer to our own time, a number of traditions and rituals associated with death here in Wales have survived until relatively recently.

It was customary to announce a death by tolling the church bell – and in the counties of Anglesea and Arfon, the home of the deceased was known as a ‘tŷ corff’ (house of the corpse). A local woman would attend the house to prepare the body for burial and a carpenter would come to measure him/her before making the coffin. It was important to our forefathers that the honey bees be informed formally if there was a death in the house. It was generally believed that failure to do so would result in the mass death of the bees – or they would leave the hive.

Traditionally the room where a corpse lay before burial would be draped with white curtains and linen. Curtains were kept closed and mirrors were covered. Sweet-scented herbs were used to scent the room, and wax candles kept alight. In some parts of Wales, the family would sprinkle salt on a pewter plate and place it on the chest of the deceased – to ward off all evil spirits. The belief was that salt purified the soul. It is also known that in some areas a ‘sin eater’ would be invited to the house to eat the sins of the dead person, by dipping a piece of bread in the salt and eating it above the body. Thus the dead person would be relieved of all sins and would be assured of entry into heaven.

From the time of death, the house was never empty. Family members and friends would take it in turn to hold a vigil over the body every night until the day of the funeral. In some areas a wake would be held every night – with plenty of food and alcohol – but the proceedings were always carried out in a respectful manner. In the 19th Century, the deceased was often propped up during these wakes! It was also customary for gifts of butter, cake, tea, biscuits and sugar to be gifted to the family in mourning. By the 19th Century, under the influence of the Methodist Movement, the vigil or the pre funeral wake had become much more reverential – more like a prayer meeting. And a recognised singer would be invited to sing an elegy – an echo of the elegiac poems composed by the court poet during the age of the Welsh Kings and Princes.

On the morning of the burial, the mourners would arrive at the house, where the main mourner would be seated – dressed in back of course. Before the service black gloves would be handed round to the mourners; silk or kid for near-relatives and cotton for more distant members of the family. In Aberystwyth, for example, it was customary for a man to walk around the town ringing a Corpse Bell. He would walk along and every so often, stop and ring out one solemn stroke on his bell.

One particularly sad custom was that of baptising a newly born baby on his or her mother’s coffin, if she had died in childbirth – a common occurrence in earlier times, of course.

The Welsh have always carried their dead relatives to the churchyard, unlike the English who in general paid strangers to do this. At the end of the service a collection was made and the money would go to the priest – who would often pass the money to the family – if it was particularly impoverished. Another collection was made at the graveside when coins would be placed on the gravedigger’s shovel or spade – ‘spade money’ (arian rhaw) – which would pay for the burial. In the 1700s it was the custom to throw a sprig of rosemary into the grave, which by the 19th Century, was substituted by the placing of flowers on top of the grave.

There were a few superstitions surrounding death and funerals in Wales one of the most common being ‘cannwyll corff’ – a corpse candle. Before a death had been reported in an area, people would report seeing a candle moving along a particular path or roadway. They believed that this foretold the death of a local person – whose funeral procession would follow the route of the candle they had witnessed. If a corpse candle was seen glowing red it was thought to be foretelling the death of a man; a white glow showed the death of a woman and a small, weak light, that of a child.
There are also numerous accounts from all parts of Wales of people witnessing a phantom funeral procession – ‘toili’ – which, like the corpse candles, foretold of an imminent death in the area.
Omens of death were widely feared and taken very seriously indeed. In Port Talbot at the Morfa Colliery in 1890, workers noticed a strong scent of flowers. They believed this to be a sign of invisible death flowers and half the miners stayed in their homes. That day there was a huge explosion leaving 87 miners dead. If certain types of birds flew over the pit head, such as pigeons, robins or doves, it was also believed to be foretelling a disaster. They were dubbed ‘corpse birds’ and are reported to have been seen just before the explosion at Senghennydd Colliery in Glamorgan in 1913, in which 400 miners were killed. So seriously were these superstitions taken by Welsh miners, that if they passed a squinting woman on their way to the mine, they would turn back and go home to avoid bad luck.
Ann M. Jones

 

Monknash Coastguard Rocket House

MONKNASH COASTGUARD ROCKET HOUSE

 

Just inland from the top of a precipitous Heritage Coast cliff near the village of Marcross in the Vale of Glamorgan there stands a small stone building with an almost semicircular stone flagged roof. One end of this building is completely open and faces the sea. It is yet another entity associated with shipping in the Bristol Channel.

As the title of this article suggests the building, which was constructed in the 1870s, was used to house the apparatus that could fire a thin rope to any ship in distress close to the shore in these hazardous waterways. If the mariners on such a vessel were to successfully receive the initial rope, then they would haul to themselves a thicker rope to which would be attached a breeches buoy to enable their rescue.

Rocket Houses became an essential part of the infrastructure of being able to effect rescues close to, or indeed on, lee shores which would have otherwise proved difficult for the life boats of the time.

The UK Coastguard Rocket Stations were strategically located along the coast to cover areas with high risk of shipwrecks and to provide timely assistance. There is some evidence that there was such a rocket station adjacent to the Watch House at the entrance to Barry Old Harbour. The equipment and techniques used evolved over time, but the primary goal remained the same: to save lives at sea

 

 

Welsh Traditions 6 – Medi – Harvest

WELSH TRADITIONS 6

MEDI – HARVEST

The Welsh word ‘medi’ is a verb meaning ‘to reap’ or ‘to harvest’ and as a proper noun, ‘Medi’, is the name of the ninth month of the year, namely September – the month when the crops are harvested, of course. The English word ‘harvest’ comes from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘haerfest’ – and it was used as the name of the third season until around the 16th Century when it was superseded by the name ‘Autumn’.

There are a number of customs and traditions associated with the harvest season here in Wales. It was, of course, the most important period in the agricultural year – and before the dawn of mechanisation, all the neighbouring farmers and farm hands would gather at each farm in turn to see to the harvest. In Welsh, there is a name for this practice of community aid – ‘cymhortha’ – a word based on the noun ‘cymorth’ meaning ‘help, aid, assistance’. The same thing happened at other busy times in the year – sheep shearing, lambing, crop planting and so on.

The custom known as ‘Y Gaseg Fedi’ (The Harvest Mare) was an important element at the end of harvesting. The name ‘Y Gaseg Fedi’ was given to the very last sheaf of corn to be cut. The sheaf was divided into three by the senior farmhand and plaited. The reapers would then take it in turn to throw their scythe or sickle at the sheaf to see who could cut it down. The person who succeeded would recite the following, traditional lines (translated here)

‘I tracked her,

In the late evening I followed her,

I’ve caught her, I’ve caught her!’

The other reapers would respond –

‘What did you catch?’

and the reply would be –

‘A hag! A hag! A hag’!

‘Gwrach’ (Hag) was another name given to the Harvest Mare.

At the end of the corn harvest, the farmer’s wife would organise a Harvest Supper for the neighbours who had helped with the harvesting. There was always plenty of food and locally brewed beer. In some areas, a sweet dish called ‘whipod’ was served. It consisted of a mixture of rice, white bread, dried fruit and treacle. In nearby Cardiganshire in 1760, a farmer reported that the feast following the reaping of his rye by about 50 neighbours consisted of ‘a brewing pan of beef and mutton, with a range and potatoes and pottage, and pudding of wheaten flour, about 20 gallons of light ale and over twenty gallons of beer’. After the meal, there was usually dancing to the music of the fiddle, with a plentiful supply of beer and tobacco.

It was seen as an honour in Wales to be the one to bring down the caseg fedi, and the man who succeeded in doing so was often rewarded. The winning reaper was faced with the task of carrying the Harvest Mare into the house – making certain that it was kept perfectly dry. But this gave rise to great revelry as the women present attempted to drench it with water before it reached the house. If he’d been successful in keeping the sheaf dry, he would be given an honoured seat at the Harvest Supper table with plenty of ale to drink. But if he’d failed to keep it dry, he would have to sit at the far end of the table, have no ale to drink and suffer the taunts of his fellow diners throughout the meal!

The ‘caseg fedi’ may have represented the fertility of the harvest condensed into the final sheaf and it was believed that a spirit resided in the last sheaf of grain to be harvested. In one part of Wales, it was recorded that seed from it was mixed with the seed at planting time ‘in order to teach it to grow’. In other parts of Britain, this last sheaf was buried on Plough Monday, the first Monday after Epiphany (6 January), so that it could work its magic on the growing corn.

Once the grain harvest proper and the Harvest Supper were over, the women could begin gleaning, i.e. scouring the fields for the leftover ears of corn which they could claim and keep for themselves.

The Gleaners by Jean-François Millet

People have been giving thanks for the harvest since farming first began in the Neolithic era. Today, it has become a Christian festival of Thanksgiving and is celebrated in most chapels, churches and schools – usually on the first Sunday following the Full Moon closest to the Autumn Equinox. However, the traditions outlined above are far older than Christianity and this Christian assembly only became popular in Victorian times when, in 1843, a Reverend R. S. Hawker had the idea of holding a special service on the first Sunday in October in his Cornwall parish. The idea caught on and soon it became the custom to decorate churches with fruit, vegetables and flowers and to sing the harvest hymns written for the occasion.

Harvest has now become a time when people come together to give thanks for our own good fortune, to donate food to the needy, and to raise money for worthy causes. Thus Harvest still commemorates not just the gathering of the fruits of the Earth, but also the community cooperation that exists to extend a helping hand to people less fortunate than ourselves.

Ann M. Jones

When September And The Humble Split Pea Saved Britain

WHEN SEPTEMBER AND THE HUMBLE SPLIT PEA SAVED BRITAIN

 

September 1940 is arguably the most significant month in British history; when the tide turned in the Battle of Britain and Hitler’s plans to invade Britain during the Second World War were thwarted. The RAF victory over the Luftwaffe was famously ensured by our Spitfire planes and brave fighter pilots. A closer look leads to some surprising and fascinating insights.

The Spitfire was designed by R. J. Mitchell, who developed his expertise designing seaplanes to race in the Schneider Trophy competition. Mitchell never got to see how important his contribution was because he died of cancer in 1937 at the age of 42. Fast and manoeuvrable, the Mark V had a top speed of 369mph and could climb 20,000 feet in seven-and-a-half minutes, with a flight ceiling of 36,500 feet. All this was a tribute to the genius and ingenuity of the plane’s developers.

Amazingly, the humble split pea played a key role in the development of such an effective fighter. Flush riveting was used on the prototype Spitfire to ensure the smoothest possible surfaces and aerodynamic performance. However this proved difficult, expensive and time consuming in production. Thinking outside the box, engineers went to a local grocery and bought several bags of dried split peas and glued them on every flush rivet head to test the likely impact of using round head rivets. Unfortunately this reduced the Spitfire’s speed by around 22mph. Not giving up, they progressively scraped off the split peas to determine which flush rivets were most effective and where on the plane was it best to deploy them. The results were applied to production planes and with the various flush and round head rivets strategically placed, the speed and manoeuvrability of the planes was maximised.

Pilots were in many ways more important than the Spitfire planes. With the average life expectancy of a pilot at only four weeks and an urgent demand for new recruits, the RAF was forced to cut the training time from six months to just two weeks. Some recruits saw action with as little as nine hours experience. They included pilots of other nationalities, including Polish and Canadians. There were even a handful of American pilots, most notably Billy Fiske, a 29-year-old sportsman who had previously won a gold medal for bob sledding at the Winter Olympics.

The bravery of these pilots is legendary. Having lost both his legs early on in his RAF career, Douglas Bader re-trained, flying Spitfires and Hurricanes at RAF Duxford and re-entered the fray. One advantage that Bader had over his fellow fighter pilots in training was courtesy of his amputations. The high g-force experienced by pilots throughout combat often caused them to pass out as the blood was forced to drain from their brains and into their legs. Bader’s dual amputation meant that he didn’t lose as much blood to his lower extremities, allowing him to maintain blood pressure and stay conscious for longer. Promoted to wing commander he was credited with 22 aerial victories, over 10 shared and another 11 confirmed damaged enemy planes. Shot down over the French coast, he was captured and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner at Colditz until it was liberated in April 1945. He had been treated as something of a celebrity by his captors.

The Battle of Britain lasted from I July to 31 October. Other planes and factors, of course, played important roles in the battle. The development of radar for example, enabled the RAF to know when to scramble their pilots and get the Spitfires into the sky to defend London and the south east. However the contribution of the Spitfires and their pilots to our liberty cannot be overstated. Winston Churchill famously encapsulated this when he said ‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’

By the time it ended, 544 Fighter Command pilots had been killed in the Battle, many flying Spitfires. 808 Spitfires took part with 326 lost and 589 damaged. The official Luftwaffe losses for the Battle totalled 2071. Spitfires saw action all over the world and continued in service after the Second World War.

 

New Housing Proposal

 

NEW HOUSING PROPOSAL

A proposal to construct 30 dwellings consisting of 1 bedroom flats and 2, 3 and 4 bedroom houses on land between the Wenvoe garage and Pugh’s garden centre is under consideration. No formal planning application has been submitted at present.

A new access to the garden centre would be constructed directly off the present Port Road/St Andrews Road roundabout and the present access would become part of the development site. Burdonshill access would remain.

Full details of the proposal can be viewed at www.asbriplanning.co.uk and search in the consultations for statutory pre-statutory consultation

 

 

 

Love or Romance and Marriage – Arferion Caru a Phriodi

WELSH TRADITIONS 5

Love Or Romance And Marriage

Arferion Caru A Phriodi.

Most of the traditions associated with love, or courtship, and marriage in Wales have unfortunately died out but one or two are still practised.

Traditionally, when a young man’s eye fell on a young woman, he would not always approach her himself. He might well send his friend to ask her if she were willing to walk out with him. If her response was positive, the next step was for the young man to go ‘knocking’ – that is, visiting her at her home. He would wait until the family had retired for the night before daring to begin ‘knocking’ – throwing gravel or small pebbles at her window to let her know he was outside. If the girl was willing, he would then climb a ladder and go into her room through the window. The young couple would then spend the night cuddling and canoodling, fully clothed, on the bed – but not in the bed! In English, the custom was known as ‘bundling’. In theory, there was no sex involved – but who knows what actually went on! The lad made sure he left before the family stirred in the morning. This tradition had died out by the end of the nineteenth Century – under the influence of the Reformers, who maintained that it gave the Welsh a bad name!

When a couple had agreed to become a couple, there were different ways to demonstrate their fidelity. In some parts of the country, the young man would send his sweetheart a selection of nuts. In other parts, he would send her a sprig of hawthorn which she would return to him if his feelings were reciprocated. If she refused his advances, she would send him a twig from a different tree. So you can appreciate how important it was that everyone knew their trees!

I suppose everyone is familiar with the ancient love spoon tradition – when young men, as part of their courtship, would carve their sweetheart a wooden spoon. At first, the spoons were very plain and simple – but by the end of the Nineteenth Century, they had become far more intricate and highly decorated with different symbols. But it was not only spoons that were carved. Many museums and in particular, the Museum of Welsh Life at St Fagan, have many examples of these love tokens – such as a scoop for coring apples, a sheath for storing knitting needles, a kitchen implement for cutting biscuits, a spindle used in lace making, a bookmark and so on. By the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the most treasured love token was not carved in wood.It was a gold or silver jewel decorated with hearts, flowers, words and love birds. Sometimes, the young man would send a lock of hair with the jewel.

There were some interesting traditions associated with marriage also. After choosing his future wife, a young man often sent a friend – as a kind of advocate – to speak on his behalf to the young lady’s parents. In some areas, once the wedding had been arranged,

the ‘gwahoddwr’ (bidder), wearing a black hat, decorated with flowers and carrying a long staff – would walk around the area singing a traditional invitation song – bidding neighbours to attend the wedding and the wedding feast. He would also reminding them that they should repay any outstanding debts or favours to the young couple. In other areas, a ‘bidding letter’ would be sent to invite friends to the wedding.

On the day of the wedding itself, following tradition, a group of the groom’s friends would go on a ‘seek out’ to the bride’s home to accompany her on her journey to the ceremony. They would stand outside the house singing traditional verses, with the family inside singing their replies before she emerged. This is very similar to the tradition surrounding the visits of the ‘Mari Lwyd’ (Grey Mare) during the Christmas season. A poor family would walk to the church in what was called a ‘priodas draed’ (foot wedding). But wealthier families would have a ‘priodas fawr’ (large wedding) or ‘priodas geffylau’ (horse wedding) if they travelled on horseback.

When life was simple and lacked colour, to a very large extent, a wedding was an important occasion in a village – and all the inhabitants would join in the celebrations – especially in the wedding feast – where there would be plenty of singing and dancing. A special beer was nearly always brewed for the occasion.

Local youngsters always enjoyed a wedding day. They would often place barriers on the road or footpath – a rock, branches of wood or a rope – called a ‘cwinten’ – to try to delay the bride or groom on his or her way to the wedding. I happen to know that this tradition is still practised today in my home village.

This tradition is centuries old – and is probably pre – Christian – the remnants of the custom of setting the groom a number of tasks to complete before he won the hand of his sweetheart – a custom described in some of the eleven heroic Welsh medieval tales known as the ‘Mabinogion’.

Ann M. Jones

Sully Island

SULLY ISLAND

 

Most people in Wenvoe will know of Sully Island and many will have visited it, but for those who do not know it, here are some facts about it. It is a small tidal island of 14.5 acres by the hamlet of Swanbridge. It is located 400m from the shore and midway between Penarth and Barry and is registered as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Sully Island is one of 43 tidal islands that can be reached on foot from the mainland of Great Britain.

Over the years many people who have walked over to the island at low tide have been caught out as the incoming tide rushes over the rocky causeway. Some have been rescued by a lifeboat from Penarth RNLI and some have waded back through the waves, which is not a good idea, and some people have drowned. The danger is that the rise in the sea level can be as much as 6 feet, almost 2 metres in one hour. To make it worse the rise is so fast on the seaward side of the causeway, the tide has to go around the island, where the level is several inches lower and when the tide starts to run across the causeway it forms a race, or rapids, which becomes much stronger as each minute passes. It is strong enough to sweep you off your feet, especially as underfoot the uneven, rocky surface, covered in seaweed is very slippery. So, nobody should ever attempt to cross to the mainland when the tide is close to running across the causeway – even though the path might be clear and beckoning.

There have always been warning signs to make people aware of the dangers, but in recent years National Resources Wales has installed a board, with a traffic light system, which tells visitors when it is safe to cross, and when it would be too dangerous.

Some people have slept overnight on Sully Island to enjoy having the island to themselves, and the feeling of isolation. Then at high tide, they can marvel at the waves crashing against the rocks with spray flying high in the air. In the trips we have made to the island, there has not been much litter as people realise that they need to take any rubbish back with them.

Looking back in time there is evidence that the island was frequently visited by both Romans and Vikings. There is archaeological evidence of the remains of a Saxon fort occupying the eastern end of the Island, on the summit of which is a Bronze Age barrow. It has been suggested by some that this was an armed stronghold, but it was more likely to have been a defended residence and farm homestead.

During the 13th century, the island was the base for Alfredo de Marisco, a Norman pirate known locally as The Night Hawk. Over the centuries the island was well known for its involvement in the local smuggling trade. Smuggling was an endemic problem along the Glamorgan coastline and a constant headache for the port authorities of the Bristol Channel, especially during the eighteenth century. Criminal gangs sought to profit by smuggling in contraband from the Continent and avoiding the high tax imposed by the Government. Alcohol and tobacco were the most smuggled contra-band, but the smugglers would attempt to conceal anything which made a profit.

There have been several shipwrecks around the island over the years owing to the tricky tides and narrow access. Several sources record that the famous Antarctic survey vessel, the SY Scotia, was wrecked on the island on 18 January 1916. Local elderly residents from as far away as Barry re-member arriving at Swanbridge as children, with sacks, to harvest coal spilt on the foreshore from the wreck, over several weeks. A skeleton of a wreck is still visible on the island’s north foreshore facing Swanbridge, but this vessel’s keel is too short to have been the Scotia.

Sully Island is fascinating and if you are fit and agile take a walk over there and enjoy a drink at the Captain’s Wife on your return.

 

False Alarms In Barry Island

False Alarms In Barry Island

On Saturday May 18th the media reported that hundreds of beachgoers on Barry Island were advised by a tannoy announcement to ‘get out of the sea’ due to concerns over water quality. Dwr Cymru/Welsh Water confirmed that an announcement was made but it was a false alarm. No doubt the newspaper and TV reports will have put some people off a visit to our local beach.

There is a precedent for this sort of thing. In the Summer of 1964 rival gangs of Mods and Rockers descended on seaside towns causing the media to create a national panic over what was happening to society. Many curtailed their visits to the seaside as a result. But was it just another false alarm?

Mods and Rockers were not really about violence. The Rocker subculture was all about motorcycles, with members decked out in black leather jackets and motorcycle boots or winkle pickers. This style took cues from Marlon Brando’s iconic look in the 1953 film “The Wild One.” Rockers typically sported a pompadour hairstyle and grooved to 1950s rock and roll and R&B tunes, favouring artists like Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, and Bo Diddley, as well as British rock and roll stars such as Billy Fury and Johnny Kidd.

On the other hand, the Mod subculture focused on fashion and music, with many opting to ride scooters. Mods were known for their sharp attire, often wearing suits and other neat outfits. They listened to a variety of music genres, including modern jazz, soul, Motown, ska, and British blues-rooted bands like the Yardbirds, the Small Faces, and the Who. Amen Corner’s Andy Fairweather Low, guitarist, songwriter and producer remembered the time. ‘I used to ‘mitch’ off school to go to Barretts music shop in Cardiff. There were lots of mods around, certainly in the cafes around the city. I loved the style, the mohair suits, button-down shirts, the smell of Brut aftershave.’ In the Valleys, the Italian cafes proved popular meeting places for mods to park up their ever impressive scooters and discuss the latest in mod fashion and music. You can read more in ‘Welsh Mod: Our Story’ by Claire Mahoney, which documents the roots and Mod revival in Wales.

The Summer of 1964 saw the clash of cultures turn to violence in the coastal towns of the south east of England. Things really kicked off on Whitsun weekend, with newspaper headlines reporting the ‘Battle of Brighton’, and ‘Wild Ones ‘Beat Up’ Margate’ accompanied with detailed reports of violent clashes. In fact, only c1000 people congregated at Brighton Beach that day and the police made just 76 arrests. The country burst into what sociologist Stanley Cohen called a moral panic. Newspapers started warning about Mods and Rockers, calling them “vermin” and ‘mutated locusts wreaking untold havoc on the land.’

Welsh youth made their own Bank Holiday pilgrimages to Barry Island and Porthcawl. The South Wales Echo joined in the media frenzy, reporting what went on in England, but finding little to sensationalise about in Wales. Here it was all about fashion and transport. Mods and Rockers made their way to the seaside to show off their outfits, scooters and motor cycles. The local police kept a watchful eye; but there were few reports of violence. One weekend, The Echo, no doubt hoping for some attention grabbing headlines, was reduced to reporting on the heavy rain, which dampened the enthusiasm of Mods and Rockers at Welsh seaside resorts. This was hardly the stuff reported by a Birmingham Post editorial in May 1964, which warned that Mods and Rockers were ‘internal enemies’ who would bring about disintegration of a nation’s character

Book Review by Tony Hodge

Harmony Express by Thomas Bird

The book being reviewed was penned by a local author and so should resonate with Wenvoe residents. Although he was born and raised in Penarth, his parents Bernice and Bob Bird moved to the village some years ago and when he returns from his base in east Asia, it is to Wenvoe that he comes. He writes for the South China Morning Post and the Taipei Times, and he has contributed to many travel books including the Rough Guides to the Philippines, Thailand and China.
That’s the introduction, here’s the review.

This is a wonderfully descriptive travel book that deals not only about the author’s travels in China by rail, but how he opens up the whole China experience about the people he travels with or encounters along the way and their beer, food, pop music, a bit of romance here and there – the whole package in fact. He compares and contrasts the ultra-modernity of the new mega-cities with the almost feudal existence in the rural areas. And when he gets to Tibet, well what a world he describes for us.
Soon after starting to read the book, and knowing next to nothing of this vast country, I decided that I needed a map to put the places mentioned into geographical context. After some research I lit upon the Periplus Travel Map of China (published in Singapore) which assisted me enormously.
And what journeys Bird takes us on as he traverses the rail network (and by bus where there is no railway). He treats us with his insights about the most overwhelming of the new megalopolises to the somewhat edge of existence habitations elsewhere. It matters not that some of these rail routes were initially constructed by the French in their Indo China Empire days or along the super highspeed maglev show stoppers at the cutting edge of modernity.
He presents a writing style that blends the narratives of genre defining travel writers – from Bill Bryson’s laugh out loud to the offerings of others: Bruce Chatwin (What Am I Doing Here) and Paul Theroux (The Great Railway Bazaar). It is to be noted that both of the latter wrote about the region as it existed some decades earlier, so another compare and contrast exercise naturally ensues. And if this book goes into a second edition, then I suggest that it includes a map of the salient cities and some photographs.

Tony Hodge

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