Last week 2 programmes were broadcasted on BBC 1 Wales – ‘Elizabeth’s Wales’. These programmes are leading up to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee next month. We are lead through the programmes by clips obtained from archive films, these were shot in colour by various amateurs.
We follow Sian Williams, who many of you may know as one of the previous presenters on the BBC 1 programme ‘Breakfast’, as she travels across Wales to find the people who appear in these original films. We have the opportunity to hear their unique stories from the period during the coronation of the Queen, and her first visit to Wales.
Many of the clips that appear in the programmes came from the National Screen and Sound Archive, where the original films are kept. The Archive has been working with Barn Media, the production company, during the past year as they worked through the stages of research and producing the programmes.
There is still an opportunity to view these programmes, at the moment, on the iPlayer.
Last Thursday we took the classic Welsh comedy, ‘Valley of Song’ (Gilbert Gunn, 1953), back to the area where it was filmed, Capel Isaac and Llanfynydd in Carmarthenshire. There was a lot of interest in the film locally, and it was standing room only at St John’s church, Maesteilo, for a special screening which was attended by some of the (by now, somewhat older) faces on screen, notably those of the children in the school playground, enticed into all sorts of misdemeanours by the even worse antics of the adults of the valley, comically possessed by the ‘cythraul canu’ – ‘the devil in the music’, an ever-present danger in the world of choral singing, apparently.
Next Thursday, 11 April, we’ll be hosting an animation fest with a screening of some of the best of Welsh animation in the years since S4C came into being and stepped into the role of patron of this art in Wales. Beryl, Joanna Quinn’s amiable creation, will reprise her first outing in ‘Girls Night Out’, along with representative examples of two of S4C’s most notable international co-productions, ‘Aunt Tiger’ from the ‘Animated Tales of the World’ and ‘The Barber of Seville’ from the pioneering series, ‘Operavox’.
‘In a theatre brimming with lightweights, he was a natural heavy,’ Michael Billington said of Hugh Griffith in the obituary he wrote for The Guardian. To this day, the Anglesey-born actor’s face, and his rolling, expressive eyes, are instantly recognisable when they appear on screen in the many British and Hollywood films he made.
Yesterday lunchtime author and broadcaster, Hywel Gwynfryn,was at the Drwm to read from his biography of Hugh Griffith, written in the first person, as if by the great man himself. Interspersed with sound and film clips from the Archive, this was a performance as much as a talk – and a hugely enjoyable one at that – to an appreciative audience, many of whom had brought along their copies of the book for Hywel to sign.
Pictured are Hywel talking after the event to Dafydd, Archive Manager, and Bethan Miles, Hugh Griffiths’s niece.
Arad Goch are currently in the process of preparing for their 7th AGOR DRYSAU – OPENING DOORS FESTIVAL which will take place here in Aberystwyth between March 19 – 24.
For the first time in the history of the Festival, there will be a film screening at the Drwm, in the National Library.
Jerry the Tyke, one of the earliest animation films made in wales will be screened, and Arad Goch have commissioned local musician and resident artist Simon Lovatt to create a new soundtrack for the film. Simon will be using the latest digital technology and mixing desks to perform the soundtrack live on stage in front of the big screen, using all kinds of instruments, special effects, his own voice and even children’s toys! This will be an unique and exciting experience for any film lover and it’s suitable for all ages!
There will be four screenings taking place during the Festival, and many local schools, students and foreign visitors have already booked tickets, but we do have tickets available for the Saturday morning screening at 10.30am on the 24th of March.
Ticket prices are £3.50 for children and £5.00 for adults, but we can give a reduced rate for students group bookings. Tickets can be reserved by contacting Arad Goch on 01970 617 998.
The full Festival listing and latest news can be found on the Opening Doors website.
One of the best and most pleasurable things we do fairly often as an Archive is to go out into the communities of Wales to give them an opportunity to see items from our collections. It is also one of the most important parts of our work. And last night two of us went up to Groeslon in Arfon to show a programme of films which has a local and slate quarrying theme to it. I was a last minute substitute, as my colleague had to step into the breach and act in a pantomime – my hope was that sending me up there wasn’t going to result in something similar!
We needn’t have worried. We had a very warm welcome by local people in their splendid community hall, which plays such an important role in their lives. It was nice to play our small part. And it was so nice to see around 130 people turning out, appreciating and enjoying the show.
This Friday night, we will be welcoming Dr Rhian Davies, Artistic Director of the Gregynog Festival and Simon Crawford-Phillips, accomplished pianist to the Drwm. They will present an evening to celebrate the music and life of one of the most internationally successful, but least known musicians ever to be produced by Wales, the blind composer-pianist, Alec Templeton (1909-63).
Although Alec Templeton was born near Cardiff, he moved to the US during the 1930s, and made a name for himself, and was soon given his own show It’s Alec Templeton Time! and became a household name. In later life, he broadened his career to compose for Broadway and the movie industry and is honoured with a personal star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The show, which will be narrated by Rhian Davies, will comprise of examples of Templeton’s classical, jazz and blues compositions, and will be played lived by Simon Crawford-Phillips, together with archive recordings of Templeton’s own performances.
We have also recently acquired recordings and film footage of Templeton, and some of this footage will be incorporated in the performance.
Tickets are available for £7 through the Library shop or by calling 01970 632 548.
Last Friday morning, I was a slight nervous wreck – more than usual! I was invited to give an introductory presentation to a conference of under-graduate students studying music at various universities around Wales.
I will admit that I am confident in talking to a group in an informal setting or barking orders from a stage when I’ve been stage managing – but this was a totally different kettle of fish.
How did it go – i hear you ask … well with students turning up late, the DVD not starting at the appropriate moment – it went ok. Not bad for a first attempt – things to learn, things to keep in mind.
Since my last blog – beginning of 2011, i’ve had major back operation – Lumbar Laminectomy and was off work from end of July 2011 – until November 2011. Thankfully, everything went ok and I’m definitely a new man 
Like every year – this time of year – coming up to the end of the financial year is all go – getting orders in, making sure suppliers can deliver music and film releases before the end of March.
Also to keep my occupied – at the beginning of February Mike Winson and Gruff Harries, from the radio station – Swansea Sound, visited the Archive and donated approx 230 interviews that were broadcast on Swansea Sound in the 1980’s.
They include Welsh celebrities and British celebrities that were visiting Swansea performing in stage productions.
This Saturday (28/01/12) the National Library will hold it’s first open day of 2012. During this marathon of a day there will a number of events, some highlights include films in the Drwm theatre with ‘Pictwrs y Plant’ (children’s films) in the morning, and in the afternoon a showing of a film of Aberystwyth in the 1920’s. There will be a selection of entertaing talks with Professor April McHahon the Vice-chancellor of Aberystwyth University, a talk by Will Troughton about Aberystwyth Photographers and a special talk by the newsreader Huw Edwards about his new series ‘The Story of Wales’.
There will also be an introduction to of one of the Screen and Sound Archives most interesting sound collection, the Ceredigion Library Oral History Collection (‘Casgliad Llyfrgell Ceredigion’). A vast collection of oral history of the Ceredigion area. On show will be extracts from Mr Tom MacDonald talking about the history of Capel Bangor, the history of Penuwch by Mr Dafydd Edwardes, Evan Jones will be talking about his memories of Llanfarian, an interesting incite to the old Aberystwyth harbour with Captain William Ellis, Captain Jack Williams and Mr Howell Ellis. Mrs Katie Morris will be remembering her career as a teacher and Mrs Lewis, Aberaeron will be talking about Cribyn before and during the First World War.
The door’s will be open and everyone is welcome, so come along!
Last week Anwen Jones (our Access Officer) and I attended seminar at the National Museum in Cardiff which focused on the Welsh Baccalaureate and how archives, museums and libraries can support its teaching in schools by providing relevant resources and experiences for the pupils who are engaged with it. By now most secondary schools in Wales offer the ‘Welsh BAC’, as it’s referred to – currently for the upper years only, but soon it will also be introduced for the 14+ age group. Pupils can choose from a wide range of ’strands’ to study, alongside their A Level courses – from hair and beauty to systems of government worldwide! The points that they earn for completing the various sections (through classwork, community involvement, individual research etc), count towards the necessary points for access to higher education.
We enjoyed several entertaining and unexpected presentations by organisations such as Big Pit, the Centre for Alternative Technology, and the National Library itself courtesy of Owen Llywelyn, the Library’s Senior Education Officer – and began to gather ideas about which films from the Archive might be of interest to schools in terms of supporting their ‘BAC’ sessions. The most surprising presentation was the demo by the Centre for Alternative Technology of their use of a clothes line and pegs to explain the amazing, cross-continental journey of the ‘Kinder Egg’ from start to its end in the hands of eager children! It will be hard act to follow that with film – but we’ll do our best…
