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- Plant a tree in ’73 – View the scene in 2016
- Surprise visitor
- Undergrounding
- Red Kites in Dinas
- Our Aunt Emily
- Truly free range eggs in Dinas
- The Frenchman’s Feet
- Mudlarking at Newport
- Bara Brith – 5* review
- Sneak Preview
- Gedeon
- What would John James Esq think?
- Strung along in Dinas
- Threads
- A scattering of sheep
- Ty Twt: a little museum in Newport
- The best of all possible worlds
- At anchor on the heavenly shore
- Part 7: Unknown lives. Guesses, Slivers of Information and Cul-de-sacs
- Part 6: Friends
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Author Archives: bookvolunteer
We’re in a Megafauna Hotspot
The Wildlife Trusts are proposing that The Cardigan Bay area and the ‘Pembrokeshire Marine’ should be designated ‘reserves’ for the harbour porpoises that are often seen in the area. According to Sea Trust volunteers, Strumble Head attracts very large numbers of porpoises, … Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Sea, Wildlife
Tagged cetaceans, dolphins, Pembrokeshire, porpoises, strandings
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Come to Dinas to see the real thing
We saw these birds by Ugo Rondinone in Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof earlier in the year. A few months later, the memory of the gallery installation worked to make the ordinary birds on the murky Newport river mud a joyous sight.
Posted in Art, Nature, Wildlife
Tagged bronze birds, crows, Dinas, Dinas Cross, February 2014, Hamburger Bahnhof, Newport, River Nevern, Ugo Rondinone
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Do you remember your classmates from primary school?
I love this photo of class 3, Dinas Primary School c 1953, and can give you the names of everyone in the class, including the four children who were absent on the day. Back row, from the left: David Stephens, Ken … Continue reading
Posted in History, Sport
Tagged 1950s, class 3, class photo, Dinas, Dinas County Primary School, Dinas Cross, Pembrokeshire, Primary school, school photo, Wales
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Hedd Wyn (Blessed Peace)
In our Christmas 2014 exchange of letters, Gill (an old friend from Abergavenny) and I both wrote about films we had seen during the past year. Her chosen film was Hedd Wyn and she has inspired me to search it out to … Continue reading
Posted in Farming, History, Religion, Welsh language
Tagged anti war, Ellis Evans, film, first world war, Hedd Wyn, welsh language
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And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
By the time the photo* was taken in the 1960s, these walls had withstood the wild sea weather for 60 years at least and provided an apt example for the local Vicar to use when teaching the parable of the house built … Continue reading
Posted in History, Religion, Sea
Tagged castle, church, Dinas, Dinas Cross, Gerwyn Stephens, house, on the rock, Pwllcwn, Pwllgwaelod, Religious broadcasting, St Brynach's Church, Tegfan
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Haunting Churchyards
In Memory of LETITIA and GEORGE children of the Rev.d David GRIFFITHS, VICAR of this Parish, who died in their Infancy AD 1794. ——— They tasted of life’s bitter cup. Refused to drink the potion up But turned their little heads aside … Continue reading
Posted in History, Religion
Tagged Dinas, Dinas Cross, George Griffiths, Gravestone, Letitia Griffiths, Nevern, St Brynach's Church
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Slate quarrying at Aberbach (How to lose lots of money fast)
The lovely beach at Aberbach gives some clues. There’s slate nearby and the tiny quarries in the Dinas area were probably the earliest attempts to work slate in the region; George Owen, writing in the very early 1600s referred to sites … Continue reading
Stitched in a chapel to be hung in the cathedral
I was privileged to see the beginning of St Caradoc’s journey from a converted chapel, where he was being hand-stitched by Amanda Wright, to his appointed place in the great Cathedral of St Davids, where his bones are thought to … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Crafts, History, Religion
Tagged Amanda Wright, cathedral, Daniel Wright, Dinas, Dinas Cross, embroidery, Goat Street Gallery, St Caradoc, St Davids
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When Wales was the envy of Russia
To those of us who find it hard to resist the opportunity of wandering around a graveyard, a headstone will often offer a personal, privileged glimpse into largely undocumented lives. This inscription marks a grave in St Mary’s churchyard, Newport, Pembrokeshire. John Morgan, a … Continue reading
Posted in History, Religion, Welsh language
Tagged Dinas, Dinas Cross, education, John Morgan, Madam Bevan's Central School, Newport, teaching
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A walled garden offering delicious solitude for readers and nature lovers
If you should be looking for a quiet place to retreat with a good book, I suggest Manorowen Walled Garden. There is a small entrance fee but I am sure that you could find a comfortable seat and spend a delightful day … Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Wildlife
Tagged Dinas, Dinas Cross, flowers, gazebo, herbs, Manorowen, plants for sale, summer house, vegetable garden, Walled garden
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Searching for John Henry Jones and William Lloyd: the mysteries on Dinas’ war memorial
Thirteen men from Dinas are remembered on the village WWI memorial. Locally there are long memories and diligent historical research so quite a lot is known about most of these men. There are two sets of brothers, three were sailors who … Continue reading
Posted in History, Sea
Tagged casualties, David James Harries, David John Roach, Dewi Roach, Dinas, Dinas Cross, Edwin Thomas, John Edward Richards, John Henry Jones, Morgan Lewis Thomas, Owen Jenkins, Pembrokeshire, Price Gibby, Thomas Vaughan Llewellyn, Titus James Thomas, Tom David Roach, war memorial, Wiliam Rees Reynolds, William Lloyd, World War 1
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The Church on the Rock
The best way to get a good view of this little building is to approach by boat which is why, I suppose, we have some fishermen from Pwllgwaelod to thank for restoring the little Church after it had fallen into … Continue reading
Tegfan, Dinas Cross 