I am interested in the next bwtcamp too
Right - it looks like there’s plenty of interest.
So, following usual procedure, I will open booking on www.Bookwhen.com/ssiw at 21:00 next Friday, the 9th August, and it will book on a first come first served basis. A quick warning, though - bwtcamps have a habit of selling out in about 5 minutes!
I’ll put a reminder up here next Thursday (I’m off to the Eisteddfod until then!).
@Deborah-SSi
Any questions, please ask,
Iestyn
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…And here s the reminder I promised. Home from the Eisteddfod safe and sound, and ready to open booking tomorrow evening!
10 minutes to go.
And if anyone has noticed odd things happening with the numbers - sorry about that, I managed to confuse the system, but it should all be back to normal now…
And just for clarity - there is no need to log in to Bookwhen, although you may see a login option. Click on the event and once you start booking a ticket it will keep your booking for you while you pay.
Very exciting to see that the September Bwtcamp sold out quickly. I hope everyone that wanted to come managed to get a place. If not, make sure you put your name on the waiting list - just let @iestyn know.
So who’s coming? Who has successfully booked in?
I’m looking forward to meeting you all in September 
Hi Dee i sat by my laptop to wait for clock to turn 9 and v excited to get a place although also a little nervous now.
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Prynhawn da Bwtcampers!
You shouls all have received emails today which includes a couple of questions to start us off. Here are my answers:
My name is Iestyn, and I live with my wife Cat and our 4 (is it only 4?) children in Llandysul, Ceredigion. I was brought up in Gilfach Fargod, in the Rhymney Valley.
I want to speak Welsh because it is my first and native language, the language of my Welsh ancestors, and because my kids would find it a bit weird if I started speaking English with them…
I love singing. I’ve always sung to the kids since they were babies, and I was in a choir before the pressures of being a dad ate into that too much and I decided to give it a miss for a while.
One of my favourite things to do is to get up early (before 6 most mornings) and do an hour or more of stuff before anyone else turns up in my life. The world is particularly beautiful first thing in the morning, and when everyone else is asleep you can get so much done!
I’m looking forward to meeting you all - on the forum to start with, and “in the (Welsh speaking) flesh” very very soon!
Iestyn
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BTW:
If anyone hasn’t received that email, please let me know.
And if you are the person who has mysteriously booked a place but hasn’t left any details, then please could you get in touch as well, so I can find out who you are… (queue Twilight zone music!)
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Helo pawn,
My name is Julia and I live with my other half just outside Lampeter, where we moved around 2012.
I love languages and apart from wanting to be able to speak with my neighbours in their own toungue, I wanted the challenge of learning a new language later in life (I’m nearly 60).
I love music, especially singing, and growing things.
One thing that always makes me happy is pottering around our plot, paying atte tion to what’s happening in the beds, watching the insects and enjoying the birdlife. Hours can go by, it’s almost like meditation for me.
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First typo already!
Helo PAWB,
I forgot to say that we moved to Wales from SE London, and I grew up near Cambridge,
Jx
P.S. I do also like puns but haven’t tried many yet in We!sh…
Shw mae!
I am Violet, from the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York.
I have wanted to learn Welsh since I was 13 and I first heard Tom Jones speak a sentence in Welsh at the end of his weekly TV show. I have a great-great-grandfather from Pontardulais, and my first trip to trace his family, three years ago, gave me an excuse to start learning the language.
Lately I have returned to another youthful passion, horses. I took riding lessons once a week from age 6 to 18, and now I’ve been volunteering at a therapeutic riding program for people with disabilities. I get to ride once in a while too. I hope to do some pony trekking on this trip to Wales.
I also practice the martial art of aikido, which is great fun.
I am going to take this opportunity to ask if anyone might be driving down from the northwest, as I’m flying into Dublin and taking the ferry to Holyhead on 20 Sept. But public transportation from there to Tresaith looks a bit daunting. I could hop a bus to various places if someone might able to give me a ride. DIOLCH–
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Hello All
I am so excited to be on the last Bwtcamp of the year and am looking forward to meeting you all.
My name is Grace ( First name is Eleanor but I have never used this)
I was born and brought up in the Rhondda Valley and lived in several other parts of South Wales until I was 18, then lived most of my life in Oxfordshire. Recently moved to lovely Ludlow, 12 miles on the wrong ( i.e. English) side of the Welsh/ English border, in Shropshire.
I love music and singing, My mother was a music teacher so I was encouraged to sing a lot and play the piano- the latter sadly lapsed- so have always sung in choirs with my husband and also sing madrigals once a week in the summer months.
I have always longed to speak Welsh, the language of my ancestors. I did French at Uni and am ashamed that I can speak it but not the language of my own country. My Welsh speaking grandmother lived with us until I was 12 but refused to teach me Welsh as she thought that it was the language of the past, No chance to learn it at school as I went to a school where it was not on the curriculum.
My other pleasurable pursuit- cooking and eating.
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S’mae pawb, I’m Karyn and i live in Bath after coming here for University some 30 years ago. I have two sons, one has just moved out and the other has returned! (From Uni)
I originally come from the Merthyr Valley and also West Wales (Ammanford)
Reason for wantimg to learn Welsh is that it was my fathers first langauge and i was frustrated that he didn’t see need to speak to us in Welsh and was of the generation that thought I would be better off using only english. In recect years i’m feeling more removed from my heritage and culture, living in england for so long and so this was a way of reconnecting.
I don’t have an awful lot of free time but when i do i love to sing and to read and to bake and cook. However my son is a bit of a health nut so tend to bake for work colleagues. I am also a huge rugby fan.
Be worth adding to save any awkwardness later that I am visually impaired and reg as partially sighted but don’t usually let it get in the way. However for obvious reasons i can’t drive and i know i can get to Tresaith by public transport but would be a bonus if anyone is driving from the SW or Cardiff etc and i can share petrol costs.
Look forward to meeting you all soon
Hwyl fawr
Karyn
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Remember to pack your sense of humor and you’ll have a blast!
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Hi Violet. It doesn’t look too difficult to get yourself to Aberystwyth. Bus to Bangor, another to Aber. The T bus to Aber is free on Saturday and Sunday. @Deborah-SSi will probably be able to advise on the bus from there that gets you to the nearest point to Tresaith where someone could probably meet you. Croeso yn ôl i Gymru.
The TrawsCymru T5 (another bus that’s free on weekends) runs from Aberystwyth down to Aberteifi (Cardigan), and there is a stop at Tan-y-Groes which is very near to Tresaith. Just let us know which bus you get and we can do a pick up from that stop.
Hi @Deborah-SSi I will be coming from SW so getting train to Haverfordwest and then the buses - I may not be able to catch the 12.35 T5 bus as train doesn’t get in until 12.30. I then get off in cardigan and get another bus to Tresaith youth hostel so would it be possible to get a lift from there arriving either at 3 or 5.30 ( I may need a very stiff drink by this point as would b leaving home at 8 in morning!) thanks
Sorry should have added that SW is not S Wales but S West
I wonder if that is actually the Canolfan where we stay? It certainly sounds like it, so your bus may drop you off at exactly the right place
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