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NOVEMBER 2012
VANCOUVER CELEBRATES WALES
A wonderful weekend of music, food and Welsh culture
By EIFION WILLIAMS
VANCOUVER - The Novem-ber 2-4 Vancouver Celebrates Wales weekend was a great success, featuring guest artists from Wales and across the Lower Mainland.
It began with the annual anniversary dinner in the Cambrian Hall on Friday evening.
The after dinner entertainment featured Huw Evans, a folk singer and flautist from Neath, Wales, who sang several songs and played the flute, drawing an enthusiastic response from the audience.
Huw Evans was also a featured performer at the evening of entertainment held at West Point Grey United Church on the evening of No vember 3.
This event was jointly sponsored by the Vancouver Welsh Society and the West Point Grey United Church.
A capacity audience enjoyed some exceptional performances by talented artists. Ably presiding over the event was Gethin Owen of the Vancouver Welsh Society.
Welsh baritone Gary Griffiths is an emerging artist in the operatic world.
He performs with the Welsh National Opera and has often been referred to as "the next Bryn Terfel."
The audience enthusiastically appreciated his rousing renditions of opera favourites and traditional Welsh folk songs.
Nery s Jones, a popular mezzo-soprano and harpist from Seattle, has performed with the world's leading opera companies and hosted her own television show on the Welsh station S4C.
Nerys entertained the audience with Welsh folk songs and an operatic aria, together with a couple of songs with harp accompaniment.
Soprano Katie Proctor performed an eclectic mix of operatic arias and popular show tunes. Prior to settling in Vancouver in 2010 Katie sang with a number of well-known choirs in Wales.
Natasha Neufeld, a Vancouver native, contributed two delightful songs, One Bright Summer Morning and the popular Welsh folk song The Ash Grove.
Also on the program was a choir consisting of members of the Vancouver Welsh Men's and Vancouver Orpheus Choirs, conducted by Jonathan Quick.
Jonathan, an all-round musician, is an accomplished tenor soloist and contributed three traditional Welsh folk songs which were enthusiastically received by the audience.
On Sunday morning a bilingual service was held at the Cambrian Hall, followed at 2 PM by the traditional Gymanfa Ganu.
Jonathan Quick was again the conductor, with accompanist Barry Yamanouchi. Saturday's concert soloists Gary Griffiths and Nerys Jones also performed at the Gymanfa.
The Vancouver Celebrates Wales weekend was organized by the Social Committee of the Vancouver Welsh Society and members of the West Point Grey United Church.
HUW Evans (centre) is pictured above with the Social Committee of the Vancouver Welsh Society (L-R) Pat Morris, Heather Davies, Gaynor Evans, Kathy Thomas, Gillian Rogers and Jane Byrne.
HUW Evans, a folk singer and flautist from Neath, is shown playing the flute at the Vancouver Welsh Society anniversary dinner.
NERYS Jones, a popular mezzo-soprano and harpist from Seattle, performed Welsh folk songs and an operatic aria, with harp accompaniment.
Trade with Ireland 'vital' to Wales
CARDIFF - The importance of trade within the EU has been the focus of talks between Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones and the Irish Ambassador to the UK in Cardiff.
Ambassador Bobby McDonagh was making his third visit to Wales, where he highlighted the excellent relations between Wales and Ireland and how both governments want to develop them further.
Ireland is Wales's second largest exports market, with the latest figures showing that almost 1.9 billion euro in goods were exported to Ireland from Wales over the year.
There are around 50 Irish-owned enterprises active in Wales, employing 2,600 people.
Tourism is also another major link, with tourists from Ireland accounting for more than 20 percent of all Wales's international visitors, with 200,000 people a year spending 62 million euro annually.
Jones said, "Ireland continues to be a vital economic partner and close friend. The value of Welsh goods being sold to Ireland stands at close to £1.5 billion a
WELSH First Minister Carwyn Jones.
year and hundreds of thousands of Irish tourists coming to enjoy our country, spending money in communities across the country.
"My government is deeply committed to making sure this relationship continues to thrive and grow.
"The EU is highly important to both our nations and we have many issues of common interest, from EU funding programmes that support jobs, through to rural and fisheries policies.
"The Common Market allows us to travel and trade freely between all member states and is essential to the future success of both the Welsh and Irish economies."
DAVID Llewelyn Williams a member of the Vancouver Welsh Society opened the recitation competition at the Eisteddfod in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Vancouver Welsh Society members attend the 2012 North American Festival of Wales
HIS year the North American Festival of Wales was held in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Scranton holds a special place in the hearts of Welsh-Americans. During the Nineteenth Century thousands of Welsh immigrants settled in Scranton to work in the area's coalfields and iron works.
In 1900 Scranton had more than five thousand Welsh immigrants, the largest concentration of Welsh people in the world outside Britain.
Vancouver Welsh Society members Wilf and Lynn Owens-Whalen and David Llewelyn Williams represented the Society in Scranton and returned impressed with the festival events, especially the entertainment provided by Dafydd Iwan, a legendary Welsh folk singer and former leader of Plaid Cymru.
Among the festival events were a series of cinema Wales films, lectures, seminars, an awards banquet, many informal social gatherings and tours of significant locations in the Scranton area.
David Llewelyn Williams did the Vancouver Welsh Society proud by winning the open recitation competition at the Eisteddfod, which is an integral part of the festival.
David recited a Welsh poem, Y Llwynog, by Robert Williams-Parry, which he says he first learned as a 15-year-old schoolboy.
The following evening he presented the poem again, together with an English translation, at the Eisteddfod Winners Concert.
David also entertained celebrants at the pub night and the open mic event, where he had the privilege of performing Cynan's poem Aberdaron, with the audience joining in the chorus in both Welsh and David's own English translation.
By EIFION WILLIAMS
Vancouver Welsh Society members have enjoyed David's bilingual poetry readings in the Cambrian Hall for many years.
On a more sombre note, the Sunday morning church service included a memorial to NAFOW members who had passed away during the year.
A rose was selected for each member.
On this occasion the deceased included Phyllis Owens, Lynn's mother, and Uta Williams, David's wife, both of whom passed away during the past year.
As in past festivals, the highlights of the festival weekend were the two sessions of the popular Gymanfa Ganu.
This year's conductor was Gareth Hughes Jones, a former conductor of Cor Meibion Caernarfon.
The organist was David Enlow, organist and choirmaster of the Church of the Resurrection in New York City.
According to David Llewelyn Williams, the festival was an enriching and unforgettable experience, an opportunity to renew acquaintances and make new friends from across the North American Welsh community.
He now looks forward to next year's festival, which will be held in Toronto.