Thanks . Dont know if im brave enough yet!
Will hope to see you another time @alice9 - enjoy Thursday morning in Earlsdon!
No hurry at all @vickyandrew - and if you feel daring enough to consider coming tomorrow, we are very welcoming and friendly, and completely uninterested in ātesting your Welshā - just happy to encourage a fellow learner, at a stage that we were each at not too long ago! I well remember turning up in a pub in Solihull a while ago and mainly saying ādiolchā and āCymraegā and āsori?ā and āhelp!ā - I would hope we are as welcoming to newcomers as the group in that pub were to me. I hadnāt become a fluent speaker by the end of the evening, but I was laughing with new Welsh-learning comrades, and had startled myself by being able to actually understand one or two words people said, and it was an important step.
But in your own time, of course!
all the best to both
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I just went to my first meet-up last week. I was visiting friends in Wales and it seemed like a good idea to try to meet some people from the forum who are used to learners. It was an encouraging experience for me. I hope that might help you feel encouraged to try going along to a meet-up too.
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@vickyandrew long time no speak! Iām just finishing lesson 6 of course 1. If you want to go to this, we could go together 
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Ooh now thereās a thought. 
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I have commitments tomorrow but if youāre up for it soon, Iām game
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Hi everyone I totally agree with everything Mark has said, and everyone else too.
The purpose of these sessions is not to compete to see who is the best but to start practicing the really important skill of hearing some Welsh that we donāt understand and trying to pick out a context from that.
This is something thatās pretty unique with SSIW and they are right that traditional courses, good though they often are, donāt usually cover this aspect very well.
Itās really important for us to overcome our inhibitions, and that in itself is a big step, so we would really welcome anyone to come to our monthly Siarad Cymraeg sessions. When you are ready of course, but the sooner we take the plunge to start speaking to people, or to just listen, the sooner we will get good, so they tell us.
Of course at first we are not very fluent or very confident because we havenāt built up the skill of listening and speaking, but the more we do that, the better we will get.
So we really hope to see everyone who is reading this, really soon.
If anyone is going to join me and Mark, we meet at the Litten Tree pub in Coventry city centre at 6.30 ish. Look for a scruffy middle aged bloke with long hair and a beard with a bit of grey - well, ok, just grey - thatās me.
See you soon if not tomorrow
Andy
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Hello, just reporting back that I made it to Coventryās āfirst Thursday of the monthā meetup this morning, it was exactly advertised in the weekly newsletter sent out by @Deborah-SSi, upstairs at Earlsdon Methodist Church. Meet fortnightly, first and third thursdays, 10 am until about 11:30. Not fully accessible but thereās a stair-lift chair that goes upstairs. The cafe downstairs are very happy to let people bring drinks up to the meeting room, and let me park the pushchair downstairs while we went up to the group.
Itās a lovely group, and big like @mintonman says. There were nine people there when I got there. The group is associated with Coventry Cambrian Society which Iāve now joined, and I hope I can get to the meetup there again. Itās a fairly structured format, members of the group take it in turns round the table to say something yn gymraeg about what they have been doing recently, and then they move onto chatting about something which members take it in turns to provide. This time the group read aloud a welsh fairy tale that one member had brought along. Iām told this second part is different each time depending on what the member whose turn it is chooses to bring. So a great opportunity for anyone who works flexible hours and is free on a Thursday morning. One of the members brought some allotment produce so I was very happy to also have some afalau and some beautiful eirin du to take home. 
Hope I can also make it to the pub meetup sometime soon.
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I had too, but in the futureā¦ with enough warning!
Hi There,
Is this still happening?, I have just joined ssiw and will be starting the 6 month course, so any excuse to meet fellow welshies in Cov would be fantastic
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Hello, thank you for getting in touch. Yes this is still happening. We didnāt meet this Wednesday but we do meet most first Wednesdays. The next one is due to be Wednesday 7th March. We have had several new starters express interest but so far they have all been too shy to take the plunge! We also have a Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/DysguCymraegCoventry/ which you are very welcome to join. Thereās quite a Welsh community in Cov including a very active Cambrian Society with lots of Welsh speakers, some intermediate learners and some beginners too.
Hope to see you soon! Keep in touch
Andy
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Where is it held ?
ā¦and what time ?
Itās held at the Litten Tree pub, 1 Warwick Rd, Coventry CV1 1EX, starting at 6.30 and finishing around 8 or 8.15 ish. Iām currently checking to confirm that our other regular member is able to come. Assuming he is, we will be there this coming Wednesday, March 7th. I do look like my profile picture (scraggly long hair, going grey) so you will find us quickly enough. Iām occasionally a few minutes late so donāt leave if Iām not there at exactly 6.30.
Thanks
Andy
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Thank you for this. Unfortunately Iām going to a Spanish Meetup in Kenilworth at the same time - Iām also learning Spanish. I will try to make it for the Meetup next month but may be in Spain when itās on.
Hi Andy, Oes cyfarfod yfory? neu pryd nesaf,
hwyl am yr tro nesaf,
Mal
Sāmae Mal,
No meeting tomorrow (is there some kind of a sports thing happening? ) - and there was some problem or other with next week when Andy and I chatted about it; so we are going to leave it a fortnight and meet on Wednesday 25th July
- The Litten Tree, Coventry, 6:30pm July 25th
@andyjone and I will both be in Cardiff on the second Wednesday in August, so I think we decided to skip that one also (could you put that in the next SSIW email, @Deborah-SSi? many thanks!)
Hwyl am y tro!
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Letās meet on the 3rd Wednesday in August instead, that would be the 15th I think.
So as Mark says, Wednesday 25th July, and then Wednesday 15th August.
There may be a Saturday meeting happening too, discussions on the other thread!
Andy
Diolch! On to it