Last week, Tŷ Newydd arranged a week-long festival to celebrate the life and work of welsh language author, playwright and scriptwriter, William Samuel Jones, or Wil Sam as he was best known. All the events took place in Llanystumdwy, the village in which he was born and lived.

On the Thursday evening, I traveled up to the Lloyd George Museum to screen films and TV clips from our collection with a connection to Wil Sam. The evening included a clip of Wil Sam on Hel Straeon in a bike festival in York and clips of amateur films taken by Guto Roberts, showing him riding his motorbike and fixing push bikes.

I also showed the classic Ifas y Tryc – written by Wil Sam and created on screen for S4C by Taliesin. The film follows the turbulent Ifas y Tryc, played by BAFTA-Wales winning actor, Stewart Jones.

A lot of the audience, especially the younger ones hadn’t seen Ifas y Tryc before, so it was great to be able to show it to them. It shows how Ifas y Tryc is a timeless classic, and as relevant and funny today as it was in the 1980s!

Monday night, we held a film screening at Groeslon village hall.

One of the films we showed was ‘Muriau Segontium’, a 1979 film produced by HTV. The film follows two young boys from Caernarfon, Gerwyn Owen and Azahar Hughes, as they run around the town causing havoc and talking to local characters. We were fortunate enough to have Gerwyn Owen at the screening, and he presented the film to the audience.It’s great to be able to include films from ITV’s archive collection in such screenings.

Our next community screening will be in Machynlleth in April.

On Monday of last week we pointed the car in the direction of Neuadd Tŷ’n y Porth, Penmachno , where we showed two examples of early S4C programmes which were of particular local interest: an edition of Cefn Gwlad about renowned singer, Ritchie Thomas and an edition of the series Portreadau featuring the two farming sisters, Kitty & Lizzie.

The hall was full, the occasion having drawn people from far and wide who wanted to see once again the characters so familiar to them as they grew up in the village, and who had contributed so much to the fabric of life there.  There was a lot of audience reaction to seeing the two old sisters milking the cow and churning butter in the old-fashioned way, and to hearing the mischievious comments of the old singer in response to Dai Jones’s questioning.

Welsh-languagae television came into its own long after many of the traditional ways of doing everyday things had disappeared from our homes, and long after the heyday of Ritchie Thomas as an entertainer, but these two programmes captured something of that way of life before it became too late.

One of the best things about working at the Archive, is being able to go out to communities across Wales, and beyond to screen local films and tv programmes from the collection. The first quarter of the year is always a busy period for us.

Last week, Trystan and I traveled to Dyffryn Ardudwy, for a screening with the Cymdeithas Festri Lawen Horeb. Around 30 of its members attended, and everyone enjoyed seeing some of the area’s old characters coming back to life on the big screen. It’s always good to hear the audience reacting to what’s on the screen. Thank you to the society for the welcome, and for the tea and cakes at the end!

On Sunday night, John Reed, our preservation officer went to London for a screening of The Life Story of David Lloyd George at the Barbican. Around 130 people came to see the film. Neil Brand was also present to provide live piano accompaniment to this silent film. The appeal and history of this unique film continues to fascinate  audiences it seems.

The next few weeks are also going to be busy. This afternoon, Rhodri and I will head off to Dolgellau for a screening there, and on Monday, Iwan will be off to Penmachno. No rest for the wicked!

Un o’r pethau sy’n rhoi llawer o fwynhad i mi yn fy ngwaith, yw’r cyfle i fynd allan i gymunedau ar draws Cymru, a thu hwnt, i rannu ein casgliadau. Mae dechrau’r flwyddyn yn dueddol o fod yn amser reit brysur i ni.

Nos Iau diwetha, teithiodd Trystan a fi i Ddyfryn Ardudwy, a chynnal noson o ffilmiau a rhaglenni teledu lleol o’r casgliad i Gymdeithas Festri Lawen Horeb. Mynychwyd y noson gan tua 30 o aelodau, a bu i bawb fwynhau gweld hen gymeriadau’r ardal yn dod yn fyw ar y sgrin fawr. Mae hi wastad yn beth braf clywed y gynulleidfa yn ymateb i’r ffilmiau hyn, ac ar ddiwedd y dangosiad, clywais sawl stori ddifyr am y cymeriadau yn y ffilmiau. Diolch i’r gymdeithas am y croeso cynnes, ac am y paned a’r bara brith ar ddiwedd y noson!

Nos Sul, 17 Chwefror, aeth John Reed, ein Swyddog Cadwraeth i Lundain ar gyfer dangosiad o’r ffilm The Life Sotry of David Lloyd George. Cynhaliwyd y dangosiad yn y Barbican, a daeth tua 130 o gynulleidfa i weld y ffilm. Roedd Neil Brand, y pianydd, hefyd yn bresennol i chwarae cerddoriaeth byw i’r ffilm fud hon. Mae chwilfrydedd am y ffilm yn amlwg yn parhau, a cynulleidfaoedd yn mwynhau clywed ei hanes unigryw.

Mae’r wythnosau nesaf hefyd yn mynd i fod yn brysur, gyda dangosiadau yn Nolgellau, Penmachno a Groeslon. Digon i’n cadw’n brysur!

Day Dot minus twelve! The exhibition, Dot Dot Dash: Communicating in Wales opened before Christmas and we’re busy preparing for a day of activities focused on it, coming up on Saturday, 26 January.
A comic-strip workshop is one of the highlights, by top comic-book artists, Mike Collins and David Roach (Doctor Who, Marvel etc) and a drawing by Mike Collins will be given away in the Twitter competition that’s running at the moment. (Question: how many regenerations of Doctor Who have there been?)
Another undoubted highlight will be the behind-the-scenes tours of the Screen and Sound Archive, a rare opportunity to see areas normally out of bounds to the general public, including the cells where film, video and sound material are kept and the wonders of the technical block. One of the cells is lined with copper, and another is effectively an enormous fridge. The latter is named ‘Limbo’ – you’ll have to come on the tour to find out why!

To book your tickets for the tour, please visit the Library’s online shop. For more information about Day Dot, please visit the Library’s website.