Thursday 7 August 2014

Hitting the wrong notes

The National Eisteddfod is in full swing in Llanelli, and Carmarthenshire County Council's press office has gone into overdrive with a series of short articles, such as one on Carmarthen Choir ("Hitting the Right Notes"), and loads of pictures which tell us a lot about how the Kremlin on the Tywi sees this event.

Whereas the Eisteddfod's official website explains that the event "exists to promote culture and the Welsh language", culture and the Welsh language making only very fleeting appearances in the Council's record of the event, with Labour bigwigs taking centre stage instead.

The photos are hosted on Flickr. Click on that link and you too can enjoy snaps of Kevin Madge

  • sharing fudge with First Minister Carwyn Jones
  • shaking hands with Carwyn Jones
  • talking to Scarlets players with Carwyn Jones
  • shaking hands on the Coleg Sir Gâr stand
  • giving a speech
  • posing with a mixed group of Labour councillors, children and a few parents under the heading "families"
  • meeting Lesley Griffiths, Labour's Minister for Local Government (let's hope the subject of that letter did not come up)

A couple of Kev's "Independent" coalition partners manage to get mug shots in, but if Meryl Gravell and Pam Palmer did attend, they have been air brushed from the record to make way for Tegwen Devichand (Lab), one of Kev's deputy leaders.

Tegwen is not exactly known for her commitment to the Welsh language and culture, so you may wonder what she is doing at the Eisteddfod. The answer is a photo opportunity with Jane Hutt (Lab), Minister of Finance.

And finally....

One of the awards handed out on the Council's stand on the Maes was for "Carmarthenshire's loveliest location". The prize went to Cefneithin Village Hall (below), and took the form of a bilingual slate plaque engraved with the words "Hafan hadda' Sir Gâr/Carmarthenshire Loveliest Locality".

A pity nobody bothered to check the spelling because there is an "r" in hardda', and there ought to be an 's after Carmarthenshire.
Hardd



14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why so much Madge? Because the real council leader is apparently away at a wedding in Scotland. A most fortuitous arrangement. Kev gets to push the politics before next year's General Election and Mark can avoid attending this tedious Welsh jamboree. Trebles all round!

Anonymous said...

A candidate for Arwyddion Cymraeg Gwael on Facebook, if only somebody could take a photograph

Anonymous said...

do you really think anybody will care about a missing R - come on get real !!

Cneifiwr said...

Anon@12.51 Next time you go for a curry I hope it's served with rice and not ice.

Anonymous said...

What do you make of callum higgins? Can he really challenge the status quo in Carmarthen? Is he the next Nau Bevan

Anonymous said...

Quite right Cneifiwr and furthermore it's an insult to the Welsh Language!

Cneifiwr said...

Anon @18.12 In a nutshell, no. See previous posts on the subject. I noticed that he was at the Eisteddfod giving a speech on the Shelter stand. Could this be the same Cllr Higgins who voted against a motion not to evict victims of the bedroom tax. I wonder if Shelter knew that when they invited him.

Anonymous said...

The comment by 12.51,must be the most stupid I have
come across on this blog,the words have to be spelt
correctly to make sense.
The next Aneurin Bevan don't make me laugh.

Anonymous said...

Pictures of them "sharing fudge"? not an euphemism, I hope............

Anonymous said...

The point I was making, I agree rather inelegantly, is that given that most of the population in Wales do not speak Welsh, even in the so called Welsh speaking heartlands, not Many people would be in the least bit interested in a missing letter from and obscure Welsh word. Come to think of it they wouldn't be bothered about a missing word ! where does Mr Bevan come into

Cneifiwr said...

Anon@13.40 I'm not sure that that argument makes much more sense, but this could be the start of a wonderful journey for you learning Welsh. If you stick with it, you will find it one of the most rewarding and fulfilling things you have ever done.

Hardd is not an obscure word. It means beautiful. Hardda' (or harddaf in full) means 'most beautiful'.

Mae'r iaith Gymraeg yn hardd.

The Welsh language is beautiful.

End of today's lesson.

Anonymous said...

As a Welsh speaker I am bothered about the misspelling
of Welsh words (or English words)Hardd is not a hard
word to spell.So it's alright to misspell a word as long
as it is a minority language word.
There is enough of them in the Carmarthenshire ministry
of propaganda they should get it right.
Annhebygoirwydd that is a bit harder,I would say so.

Cneifiwr said...

Anon @22.21 - did you mean annhebygolrwydd?

Anonymous said...

Ie yna o ni yn meddwl am, camgymeriad gwael.
Mae rhaid dysgu Cymraeg ir I Pad hwn.