Our welsh class came to school far more excited than usual this St David’s day, knowing that this year’s festival would be something special. We were setting off on a three day trip around Wales, organised by the welsh department. The aim of the trip was for us to gain a better understanding of the subjects we have and will be studying during the course, but we also learnt a great deal about our heritage and came back having had a fantastic time and feeling proud to be welsh.
After a long bus journey through the mist, we arrived at our fist stop - the coastal town of Aberaeron - for a little shopping, lunch and some rare sunshine. Luckily for us the weather stayed warm throughout the rest of our trip! Next up was the National Library in Aberystwyth were we enjoyed being taken “behind the scenes” for a tour of the library and its vast storage areas. Here we were privileged enough to view a few of the nation’s historical treasures, including one of the first welsh bibles ever published and the first map of Wales as a principality. Then, it was off to the Urdd resort, Glan-llyn for a touching presentation on the drowned village - Capel Celyn - bingo, a film and supper before bed.
There was even more to come the next day, which began at the Llanberis National Slate Museum. First, we learned all about slate quarrying years ago, before being given a hands on demonstration on how to cleave and shape the slate itself - something it turned out that our teacher - Miss Jones - had quite a talent for! After a visit to the gift shop and lunch by a beautiful lake we moved on to the Kate Roberts Heritage Centre - learning all about the way of life back in the author’s time as well as her personal history. Next was Gelert’s Grave - the memorial to a faithful dog from the mabinogi tales who came to a tragic end. Finally we visited Llyn Celyn - the reservoir built upon Capel Celyn - and the memorial chapel where graves from the village chapel where moved before the drowning. To finish off the night with a flourish, we attended the local eisteddfod and even ended up winning first place with our group effort for the voice ensemble!
We said goodbye sadly to Glan-llyn, our home of two nights, the next morning and were soon off to Bala for a spot of shopping - to find souvenirs for our families back home and plenty of sweets and treats for ourselves! The last two destinations -Llywelyn, the last prince of Wales’ memorial in Cilmeri and the Aberfan Children’s memorial - were moving and quite emotional, and certainly a memorable end to our trip.
We would like to say a huge thank you to our teachers - Mr Davies and Miss Jones - for giving us such an amazing three days and to Aled, the bus driver - for taking us everywhere and putting up with our terrible singing! I think it’s safe to say that you don’t always have to go to the ends of the earth to have a good time….
Robin Tait
Year 10