Christmas in Wales Part Three

Christmas in Wales Part Three

Caerphilly Again

We took the bus to Caerphilly to meet some people for an early Christmas eve drink but never did meet up with them.  The trip was not in vain as we toured the town and had coffee in a very nice pup.  When we booked the train back to Cardiff we found out that for £5 we could get a seniors pass on the “Valley Lines” so we went home and found out what the Valleys were.

I received the following e-mail from an enquiry I made to a Caerphilly church:

I assume your visit to Caerphilly was on the 14th December, and if so it was indeed the ringing of a peal that you and your wife heard. This was indeed at St Martin's and was rung by a visiting band of 'local' ringers organised by Trevor Lewis, who normally rings at Radyr and who nearly 40 years ago was the principal mover in getting ringing going again in Caerphilly after a period when the bells were silent. The occasion was to mark the 60th anniversary of Trevor's first peal which was also in Caerphilly.

What is amazing is that a full peal has 40,320 combinations of the eight bells.  That would take all day!  I asked the head bell-ringer and he told me it was seven bells and took about three hours.  Eight would take over twenty.

Two Choirs

We are slowly finding out where the good entertainment is.  There was a concert by a men’s Welsh choir at the Millennium Centre so we went on a rainy day to see them.  It was free.  Our bus never came so we took an alternate bus to see if we could catch the ending.  It didn’t work so we took the bus back home.  While we were at the bus stop in the drenching rain a number of men were dropping off their wives so they could go to the theatre.  What was playing?  Singing in the Rain!

The next choir was a Lady’s Choir from up one of the Valleys.  Actually just past Caerphilly.  They were excellent.  They worked with a trio that called themselves the Triptych but when it is said by the Welsh choir director it sounds quite different.

Y Finni http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKgGhLRZRFc

Carolene and I went to Abergavenny to have lunch with my ‘exchange partner’ and his wife.  In 1996 I traded jobs for a year with a maths teacher from Malvern College in Worcestershire.  We only met for a day at either end of our stay but when you live in a person’s house for a year you kind of get to know him.  We have kept in touch over the years.  When I got this job in Wales I sent him an e-mail with the subject HELP and he has helped me tremendously with ideas, materials and advice.

We took the bus to Abergavenny and were there early enough to tour the town and see the St Mary’s Church, the Tithe Barn, the castle and the museum (they are shown in the above you tube video).  The church was wonderful and we got talking with one of the women there and found out a lot.  The tithe barn was interesting but the displays were not well researched.  The display on special days said:

I always thought Saturday was the end of the week – day of rest, and Sunday was to commemorate Christ’s resurrection. 

 We met up with my exchange partner and his wife and had good visit at a pub called the Hen and Chicken.  We tried not to talk too much maths but, hey, that’s what we do.  His wife is a psychiatrist by profession but over the last few years has been training as a Church of England priest.  We hope to go to a service to install her in the Malvern Priory at the end of March.  From talking with her I can see that the combination of priest and psychiatrist is something to be valued.

Abergavenny has been a market centre since pre-Roman times and later designated a place for a cattle and sheep market (to get them off the main street).  The livestock market has recently undergone a controversial move to more modern facilities.  In 16 38 Charles I granted Abergavenny a charter to hold markets on Tuesday and Thursday and those are still the market days.

More Ballet

We went to Swan Lake.  It was good but we didn’t like it as much as Nutcracker.   I think it was a bit long – too many notes.