Two Weeks Left to Book Your Flight: Meet Your Welsh Cousins in Washington, D.C.

featuring the 76th Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu, 30 August - 2 September, 2007 Washington, D. C., Sponsored by the Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu Association

If you had enough soggy Welsh summer 'sunshine' these past couple months, then why not take advantage of the British-Sterling-to-U.S.-Dollar-Exchange rate and book a quick and last minute saver flight to Washington, D.C. for the end of August?

That's right, the pound is at record highs against the dollar, so you can live like a king while you enjoy the late summer sunshine and early Autumn warmth typical of the District of Columbia at this time of year.

And you can meet your long-lost Welsh cousins at the same time! This is your last alert that the the North American Festival of Wales, which is quickly coming up 30 August - 2 September, 2007.

The Largest Gathering of the Welsh in North America

The North American Festival of Wales is the largest gathering of the Welsh, descendants and friends in North America.

Prepare yourself for 4 full days of enjoyment and camaraderie with old and new friends, celebrating the life, heritage and culture of Wales in Washington DC, one of North America’s top tourism and vacation destinations.

FESTIVAL HOTEL

Located in the West End of Historic Alexandria, The Hilton Alexandria Mark Center Hotel offers modern elegance and attentive service focused on the conference attendee.

The hotel is within sight of the nation's Capitol and just ten minutes from the central business district of Washington, DC and its historic monuments, museums and exciting attractions.

Hotel guests enjoy the benefit of also being close to Historic Old Town Alexandria with its quaint waterfront galleries, award winning restaurants and eclectic shops.

The hotel offers a daily complimentary shuttle connecting guests to all that the area has to offer directly or via access to the easy and safe metrorail system.

Shuttles include stops to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the Pentagon City Fashion Centre with access to Metro and Old Town Alexandria.

The hotel is also located on the Grayline Tour Company’s courtesy pick up schedule, which operates a variety of different tours embarking from Union Station.

There is truly something for everyone. Whether it’s a dinner cruise down the Potomac to historic Mount Vernon Plantation, a visit to Arlington National Cemetery, a tour though the recently opened National Portrait Gallery, or a 5-star dining experience in Georgetown.

The Hilton Alexandria Mark Center is the ideal way to enjoy both the 2007 festival and the breathtaking sights of our nation’s capital.

The festival and marketplace are a great oppotunity to meet and chat with like-minded folks who are researching their Welsh family histories.

At Welsh American Family Genealogy, we believe there’s no better ‘Empty Nest’ activity than researching your Welsh family history and creating a legacy for future generations. You don’t have to be rich to leave behind an enduring heritage for your children and heirs.

What’s important is that you use the time wisely. If you would like to simulate your mind each day and stay young through constructive activities, than genealogy might be right for you!

Write to us and tell us your questions. We might not know the exact answer, but think of this as a daily adventure – thousands of other online readers will ‘pick their brains’ to help you!

Be sure to visit the Welsh American Family Genealogy Online Bookstore! Just Click here.

Gyda bob hwyl i bawb, Mark

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh-American Family Genealogy, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh Music, Film, and Books Symposium, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Celtic Cult Cinema on the World Wide Web.

Visit the UK Film Studies and World Cinema and Music Import Showcase

© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

With Fond Recollection: What Does the Welsh Eisteddfod Mean to Modern Welsh-North Americans and Friends of Wales?

Pictured above: reproductions of the cover page and festival program for the 1976 Youngstown, Ohio Gymanfa Ganu, held in my hometown, which was one of the largest Welsh settlements in the New World.

My Welsh grandmother 'Lottie Lute' (nee Charlotte Williams) constantly spoke about the hymn fests and the Eisteddfodau, and me and my siblings were told we had to go to our musical instrument lessons after school, so that 'one day you will win the Eisteddfod!'

Being 'Welsh' was the catch-all excuse I got, whenever I inquired why our wood-frame house was crammed to the attic with countless books, piano, organ, guitars, accordian, banjo, mandolin, tambourines and drums, and yellowing stacks of hymnals, sheet music, country-western record albums, choir albums, and church bulletins from the 1920s for the Hillman Street Christian church and Oak Hill Baptist (both Welsh congregations).

In our tiny chapel on Warren Avenue, I recited Moore's 'The Night Before Christmas' to thunderous applause as Santa Claus crept in behind my frail 6 year old frame, and afterwards grumpy old Welshmen and even sleepy tenor-voiced Allen Griffiths hugged me and told me I would make a 'fine preacher' some day.

Our churches and chapels picked up where the Eisteddfodau and seasonal Gymanfa Ganu hymn fests left off, and we knew that music and lyric and performance were a part of our distant Welsh ethnic and cultural heritage, even though most of us had never been to Wales.

My ancestors began settling in the Mahoning Valley around Youngstown and Warren Ohio, Hubbard, Niles and Girard, Ohio, and Mercer/Sharon Pennsylvania in early 1860s.

President Lincoln encouraged the Welsh to settle in Ohio and to bring their knowledge of iron-working to assist in the 'Union Cause.

My mother's great-grandfather, William J. Wiliams, was an iron puddler who hailed from 'ole Dow-Lus' (Dowlais) and who probably learned his craft from foundrymen trained in the Merthyr Tydfil works.

This was around the same time Welsh emmigrants were going to Patagonia in South America, and there were stories when I grew up of disgruntled Patagonia settlers moving to join our family's 'gwladfa fach' little colony in Ohio, but I think a lot of this legend might have died with my forebears, before being verified.

What is remarkable is the resilience of the Welsh culture and language in Ohio, even after 100 hundred years of settlement.

My mother attended Welsh language servces, sermons, Christmas programs and events, right up through the late 1950s in Youngstown, in the area around Oak Hill on the South Side.

A lot of folks in America and Canada with Welsh ancestry are digging deep into their pasts to find out more about the courage and culture of their ancestors.

A great way to re-connect is to travel to Wales, and to atend to National Eisteddfod, taking place this coming week.

For those who can't immeidately travel to Wales, local St. David's Society's and Cambrian Groups can help.

And let's not forget the North American Festival of Wales, which is quickly coming up in September 2007.

The Largest Gathering of the Welsh in North America

At Welsh American Family Genealogy, we believe there’s no better ‘Empty Nest’ activity than researching your Welsh family history and creating a legacy for future generations. You don’t have to be rich to leave behind an enduring heritage for your children and heirs.

What’s important is that you use the time wisely. If you would like to simulate your mind each day and stay young through constructive activities, than genealogy might be right for you!

Write to us and tell us your questions. We might not know the exact answer, but think of this as a daily adventure – thousands of other online readers will ‘pick their brains’ to help you!

Be sure to visit the Welsh American Family Genealogy Online Bookstore! Just Click here.

Gyda bob hwyl i bawb, Mark

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh-American Family Genealogy, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh Music, Film, and Books Symposium, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Celtic Cult Cinema on the World Wide Web.

Visit the UK Film Studies and World Cinema and Music Import Showcase

© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Many Australians and North Americans Launch West Wales Genealogy Search from Swansea, Gower, Vale of Glamorgan

Pictured above: Swansea University is just south of the city centre and has sweeping panoramic views of Swansea Bay.

Swansea is a fabulous oceanside city, best known for the poetry of its favorite son, Dylan Thomas. But a lot of Australians and North Americans begin their visit to Wales in Swansea, when they are planning to research their Welsh family trees.

Swansea is ideally located close to the Cardiff International Airport, with easy access to trains and coaches and a modern motorway.



Hotels, hostels and guest houses provide something for everyone, and of course, golfers will be happy, too. The nearby Gower Peninsula is extremely beautiful and accessible by hired car or by bus and coaches.

See: Visit Swansea

Several links and websites have sprung up to help folks plan their travel and from time to time we'll mention them, as our readers point them out to us:

Welsh Holiday Cottages

South Wales Independent Travel

Wales & Welsh Genealogy

Select Genealogy Tours

You can order a FREE COLOR BROCHURE from Visit Wales here.

One of my favorite books is 'Dylan Thomas's Wales', which I received for Christmas a few years ago. The writing is great, engaging and informative, and the photography is breath-taking!



At Welsh American Family Genealogy, we believe there’s no better ‘Empty Nest’ activity than researching your Welsh family history and creating a legacy for future generations. You don’t have to be rich to leave behind an enduring heritage for your children and heirs.

What’s important is that you use the time wisely. If you would like to simulate your mind each day and stay young through constructive activities, than genealogy might be right for you!

Write to us and tell us your questions. We might not know the exact answer, but think of this as a daily adventure – thousands of other online readers will ‘pick their brains’ to help you!

Be sure to visit the Welsh American Family Genealogy Online Bookstore! Just Click here.

Gyda bob hwyl i bawb, Mark

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh-American Family Genealogy, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh Music, Film, and Books Symposium, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Celtic Cult Cinema on the World Wide Web.

Visit the UK Film Studies and World Cinema and Music Import Showcase

© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Irish, Scottish and Welsh Genealogy Requires Patience and Persistence

When you begin your quest to track down your own Welsh family tree, you need to have both patience and persistence.

Having a sense of humour and sense of adventure are essential traits to develop.

Having a good attitude, and not giving up or compromising is key. What constitutes a compromise?

Well, sometimes you might reach a conclusion which your intuition tells you isn't correct. Rather than accept this easy but questionable 'deadend', just reserve the right to be sceptical, until all the evidence is in.

This might take years, but have patience, and your search will be rewarded, in time!

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / The National Library of Wales

Here are some good place to begin deciphering our 'funky' Welsh surnames:

A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames with Special American Instances, by Charles Wareing Bardsley.
Hardcover: 837 pages
Publisher: Genealogical Publishing Company; Revised edition (January 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0806300221

The Surnames of Wales, Author: John Rowlands, Sheila Rowlands
ISBN: 9781860060250 (1860060250)
Publication Date April 1996
Publisher: Federation of Family History, Birmingham
Format: Paperback, 238 pages
Reprinting

Welsh Surnames, by T.J. Morgan (Editor), Prys Morgan (Editor)
Hardcover: 290 pages
Publisher: University of Wales Press (3 Feb 1992)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0708308805

"This is the classic reference work on English and Welsh surnames, with dated and documented examples given in the text and American instances cited in many cases where the name appeared in the directories of such cities as Boston, New York, and Philadelphia."

"It contains over 30,000 entries in dictionary form, three columns to a page, giving the origin and history of each surname, lists of persons bearing the name in various centuries, and the frequency of the name and its variants in certain nineteenth-century English and American directories."

"The dictionary itself is preceded by a lengthy introduction, which in itself is a formidable essay on family nomenclature. Among other things the reader will find many references to baptisms and marriages published by the various English record societies."







At Welsh American Family Genealogy, we believe there’s no better ‘Empty Nest’ activity than researching your Welsh family history and creating a legacy for future generations. You don’t have to be rich to leave behind an enduring heritage for your children and heirs.

What’s important is that you use the time wisely. If you would like to simulate your mind each day and stay young through constructive activities, than genealogy might be right for you!

Write to us and tell us your questions. We might not know the exact answer, but think of this as a daily adventure – thousands of other online readers will ‘pick their brains’ to help you!

Be sure to visit the Welsh American Family Genealogy Online Bookstore! Just Click here.

Gyda bob hwyl i bawb, Mark

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh-American Family Genealogy, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh Music, Film, and Books Symposium, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Celtic Cult Cinema on the World Wide Web.

Visit the UK Film Studies and World Cinema and Music Import Showcase

© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Diamonds, Yachts and Caviar? The Lucrative Future of Big Tourism in 'Tiny Wales'

Pictured above: David Main's Tallizmand Guest House.

Tallizmand Guest House, Llanmadoc, Gower, just minutes from the centre of Swansea, Wales and 30 minutes from Cardiff International Airport.

My multitudinous Welsh-descended North American relatives are relieved to visit me in scenic and historic, modern/old 'tiny Wales'.

That is, once they do a little online research and compare the hotel prices in 'pick-pocket' over-priced London to the family-friendly bargains of pastoral Bread-and-Breakfast Wales.

My septuagenarian Mom and her athletically active band of world-roaming retirees and semi-retirees, ('Grandmas in Nike trainers with cameras and credit cards', as I call them) have only a few questions about tourist destinations like Wales:

1) Are there plenty of clean, well-identified restrooms?
2) Is it safe to carry a purse?
3) Is the breakfast included and is it 'All you can eat?' (even though these ladies eat like birds, they like value)
4) How many steps are there?
5) Can I 'Google' it?

And tourism is Big Business now in Wales according to the Western Mail:

'We’re growing up as a tourism destination'
Jun 20 2007 by Paul Rowland, Western Mail

"TOURISM brought nearly £3.3bn into the Welsh economy last year, new figures reveal today."

"Nearly 10 million tourists came to Wales from other parts of the UK last year, with a further 1.1 million coming from overseas, according to the UK Tourism Survey."

"The report – the first of its kind – found that £1.6bn was spent by domestic visitors in 2006, with a further £358m contributed by overseas visitors."

"Another £1.3bn was added to the total by people visiting Wales for the day, according to Visit Wales, the Assembly Government’s tourism wing."

"Experts last night attributed the upturn in the fortunes of the Welsh tourism industry to a more sophisticated marketing approach."

Comparing Wales to other destinations:

In the mid 1980s I was appointed Director of Marketing for a then burgeoning, million dollar computer 'Dot.com' company in Fort Lauderdale, also home to the famous teenage six-week fiasco called 'Spring Break'.

My partner and I, tired of cold winters, happily moved our designer Boston furnishings into a cheap, beachside bungalow right behind the bikini boutique strip.

Being sober workaholics who preferred a good night's sleep, I have to now ask, "What were we thinking?"

'Spring Break' started in the 1950s with iconic films 'Gidget' (1959, 1965), and Elvis Presley-style beach blanket romance movies like 'Where the Boys Are' (1969).

By 1980 the Spring Break had declined into a local merchant / local police nightmare of cheap 'wet T-shirt contests', record public intoxication arrests, tawdry nightclubs and drug overdose-related deaths.

Our tourism board in Ft. Lauderdale decided to 're-brand' with a 'more sophisticated marketing approach' called "Diamonds, Yachts and Caviar".

The idea was, if we got rid of the six-week teenage mob, we would attract the monied 'Baby Boomer' retirees year-round.

And if we made it affordable and romantic the tourism gurus told us, we would attract rich weirdos, followed by the country club and golf set, cash-flush retirees, and honeymooners /second honeymooners, too.

It was a gamble, but it worked. Making Fort Lauderdale's beach wheel-chair accessible was not only mandated by law, it was good business: the college budget motels have been replaced with glittering condo-hotels and golf/marina resorts.

David Main, who owns the beautiful Tallizmand Guest House, located on the breath-takingly beautiful Gower peninsula in South Wales, pictured above, says that he prefers the mature customer:

He said,

“We’ve just revamped the place and added another storey, and the feedback we’ve had from customers has been exceptional, which is very pleasing."

“It’s mainly middle-aged people we have here – walkers, birdwatchers, a few young people who want to go mountain biking, and quite a lot of overseas people."

“Just last week we had a very nice couple from New Zealand staying here, so it’s quite a variety of people. It’s because there is a huge variety of things to do here. It’s very easy to get here and to get away, and there are a lot of alternative activities to do when the weather is not so good."

“I’d say the average length of stay is around three to four days. Most people come for a weekend break, and it tends to be the more mature people who come for a week."

“That suits us because we’re trying to get away from the one-night stopovers – it’s a lot of work for not much return.”


So is the future of tourism in Wales not in backpacks and rough guides, but in "Diamonds, Yachts and Caviar?"

Either way, Wales is still a tremendous value to dollar-carrying Welsh relatives of mine, who prefer 'friendly hometown' Wales to rushed and dirty Heathrow and London.

If you're planing a visit to Wales this summer or autumn, we recommend the DVD

'Magic Islands And Harbours - Wales At It's Magnificent Best'



At Welsh American Family Genealogy, we believe there’s no better ‘Empty Nest’ activity than researching your Welsh family history and creating a legacy for future generations. You don’t have to be rich to leave behind an enduring heritage for your children and heirs.

What’s important is that you use the time wisely. If you would like to simulate your mind each day and stay young through constructive activities, than genealogy might be right for you!

Write to us and tell us your questions. We might not know the exact answer, but think of this as a daily adventure – thousands of other online readers will ‘pick their brains’ to help you!

Be sure to visit the Welsh American Family Genealogy Online Bookstore! Just Click here.

Gyda bob hwyl i bawb, Mark

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh-American Family Genealogy, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh Music, Film, and Books Symposium, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Celtic Cult Cinema on the World Wide Web.

Visit the UK Film Studies and World Cinema and Music Import Showcase

© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods