I’m lucky enough to be one of just 0.01% of the world’s population who speaks Welsh as their mother tongue. Its survival over 1,500 years is remarkable, living cheek by jowl with English, the most dominant language on Earth. The Welsh language faces a genuine threat; it is classed as “vulnerable” by the Endangered Languages Project and “potentially vulnerable” by Unesco. The latest census showed that despite huge expense and effort, in 2021 there were 24,000 fewer Welsh speakers in Wales than a decade earlier, with the proportion dropping to a record low of 17.8%.
I once went back for 3 refunds when the projector at the cinema in the Miners Welfare Hall broke. The film was “Dude! Where’s My Car?” so probably didn’t miss much.
I was going to get married in Craig-y-Nos castle, but covid/brexit happened, so had to make do with a registry office in Basel, Switzerland.
The Aubrey Arms was renamed to The All Blacks Arms, after Neath RFC’s nickname, but since everyone still called it The Aubrey, the new owners changed it back. Also, the owner before the initial name change murdered his wife, and hid the body in the attic of the shed, where my Mam used to park her bike when she was working at the pub. Fun times.
Also the gates for Buckingham Palace were made in Ystrad. They’re proper fancy.