£500,000 boost for tourism
A MAN who sparked a movement to unite Welsh people across the world celebrated his 100th birthday at the weekend.
Elwyn Griffiths, who marked the special day on Saturday, hopes Cymru a’r Byd (Wales International) continues to thrive as he begins his second century.
The former librarian was born in Carmarthenshire and despite spending more than 70 years living in North Wales still has a lilting South Walian accent. After many years living in Caeathro, near Caernarfon, he now resides at Plas Garnedd, Llanfairpwll and his memory is as sharp as a tack.
Cymru a’r Byd has its roots in wartime Egypt where Elwyn was posted after being commissioned in the Royal Air Force. He travelled to Africa aboard the Queen Mary along with 1,000 other servicemen.
Despite the war, conditions on board were still luxurious, he recalls.
Surrounded by homesick Welsh servicemen hankering for news from home the enterprising 24-year-old believed a monthly newspaper in Welsh would form a bridge of communication which would make being stuck in the Middle East much easier to bear.
“After all this was wartime Egypt, and the days of instant access to newspapers and broadcasts was still to be invented,” he said.
Seren y Dwyrain (Eastern Star) was launched in October 1943 and, as the only Welsh publication in the Middle East, it targeted servicemen based throughout the region. Weeks earlier, Elwyn had also been closely involved in another Welsh enterprise, the first-ever Cairo Eisteddfod, which proved hugely popular.
“There was a flourishing Welsh life in the Middle East with concerts and Sunday religious meetings popular amongst servicemen and, although there were only five Welsh societies when the first Seren appeared in October 1943, there were 17 within eight months of its first issue extending from Italy and North Africa on one side, Persia in the north east and down as far as Sudan in the south.
“There is no doubt that Seren y Dwyrain contributed in no small degree to the activities of these societies,” he said.
Printing a Welsh magazine in Egypt was not without its difficulties.
“Finding a printer was a problem and when we did find one the printing shop did not have sufficient letter ‘ Ys’ to cope with the Welsh language!
“Completed pages had to be immediately broken before starting on the next to keep up with the demands for a Y,” he said.
He counts as one of the paper’s greatest achievements the stimulus it provided Richard Hughes to attain a tablet bearing the Lord’s Prayer in Welsh in the Pater Noster Church on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
“That attractive tablet can still be seen today with Welsh taking its place alongside so many other languages.
“It is a fitting monument to those young men from Wales who served and died, some of them, in the Middle East during the war and every effort should be made by Welsh visitors to see it. It is a remarkable and moving experience,” he said.
Surviving copies are very rare, although you’ll find them at the National Library in Aberystwyth and at the University of Wales i n Bangor.
During E l w y n ’s editor- ship of the magazine discussions were held about the future, and how they, as servicemen, would be able to contribute towards to Wales’ development after the war.
“It was then that the notion of setting up some organisation arose, not just to serve the interests of servicemen abroad, but Welsh people overseas in general.
“I was appointed secretary of Undeb y Cymry Ar Wasgar, and remained in the post until 1988. It was called, in English, the Union of Welsh People In Dispersion until it was changed in 1972 to Wales International.
“It was deemed important that this organisation should have its own voice, and that was when our magazine Yr Enfys (The Rainbow) was born. Yr Enfys, in effect, is the direct descendant of Seren y Dwyrain. And you could say that Wales International was born in Cairo.”
It was at the Union’s prodding that the Wales International ceremony became part of the National Eisteddfod’s activities starting at Bridgend in 1948.
It also began a remarkable record for Elwyn who attended every day of the week-long festival for the next 61 years. Illhealth forced him to miss the 2010 Eisteddfod in Ebbw Vale.
Over the years the Undeb grew in popularity and Elwyn hopes it will continue to thrive and grow. He is now its Honorary President.
He concedes the organisation doesn’t have the same scope it used to have.
“The world is that much closer together; people living in America could almost come home every weekend these days but there is still a need for such an organisation.
“Our golden age was during the 1960s, I would say, with a great surge in our activities.
“Nowadays we’re also trying to promote Wales to people overseas who aren’t necessarily of Welsh extraction, but who have an interest in Wales,” he said. THE Minister for Tourism, Lord Elis-Thomas recently visited Coed y Brenin near Dolgellau to announce an investment of just over £500,000 to boost the tourism industry in Wales.
Six projects in Gwynedd have been funded by the Tourism Amenity Investment Support (TAIS) fund and backed by Visit Wales.
This project has received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities - Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government.
The projects which will be implemented in 2018/19 include: ● signage and town trails in Harlech ● improvement to car parks and public amenities in Harlech ● upgrading coastal access amenities ● investing in public amenities in key destinations ● upgrading tourist information kiosks in two National Trust car parks (Porthor and Porthdinllaen) ● extending a category blue mountain bike trail in Coed y Brenin, Dolgellau.
Lord Elis-Thomas said: “The Tourism Amenity Investment Support scheme is a great way for us to help improve the tourist sector.”