Dydd Gwyl Dewi

St David's Day, 1st March, a day of celebration for all sons and daughters of Wales no matter where they have wandered!

Isn't it strange that although many have travelled the globe throughout the ages and settled far and wide, 'home' is always 'home' with a special place in ours hearts and minds, and this family is no exception!

The house is full of bunches of daffodils, we are having leek soup with fresh French bread for lunch and tonight dinner with Welsh friends with cawl  and  'teisen lap' on the menu!  Lots of chat, laughter and 'hiraeth' guaranteed, and who knows maybe even a little singing :-)

Whilst  getting  links from Google, I came across a very good site about Wales if you're interested.  In case you don't have the time to visit,I thought these few facts were quite interesting. Whether they are all true or not I'll leave to better minds than mine to decide !

* The Captain of "The Mayflower" was born in Wales

* The world's first working steam locomotive ran on a nine mile stretch of track at Merthyr Tydfil, Wales in 1804. Richard Trevithick's four wheel engine hauled ten tons of iron and 70 people before the track plates broke under the weight !


* St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, was Welsh by birth (according to legend) !
( Patrick was born and was subsequently kidnapped from Banwen, Wales. - our own Patron is St. David )

* Mount Everest was named after a Brecon man !

*The first game of lawn tennis was played in 1873 at Nantclwyd Hall, Clwyd, North Wales !

* A Welsh mathematician, from Tenby, invented the "equals" sign =

* The first place of Christian worship in U.K. was Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and similarly the first UK Cathedral was St. David's, Pembrokeshire, Wales

* The Welsh invented the longbow - the world's first armour piercing weapon.Welsh longbow men were feared throughout Europe in the Middle Ages.

* The northern hemisphere's longest place name is located on the Isle of Anglesey, northern Wales.The town is called:

 Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

* Up to half the signatories to the U.S. Declaration of Independence had Welsh ancestry, including Thomas Jefferson !

One last item that isn't mentioned on the website is that Wales gave us
'Myfanwy' , the one of greatest love song ever written in my opinion, and it always brings a lump to my throat.