As I myself commented when I signed it, and as a lot of others also had said, there should have been consultation first. However, it wasn’t until later that I saw on the BBC website that the Welsh Government had been consulted (it wasn’t clear when), and that they had raised no objection. If that is really the case, then I think they have rather shot themselves in the foot. If the Welsh Government can’t be bothered to consult its own people, then why should the Westminster Government?
Movong on, I wondered if a “compromise” name might be “The Princes of Wales Bridge” (implying the historic princes, but could also include the “English” ones), with of course a proper Welsh translation of the name given equal prominence.
To @mikeellwood I signed the petition when it was new and found it with no trouble, so not sure why you had trouble.
Re- naming, lack of consultation is what is being complained about. Will Carwyn come clean about exactly what happened? Did AC phone and ask, “You don’t mind calling the new bridge Prince of Wales do you?” Was it clear that nobody else in Wales was being asked? By what magic did AC deduce that only Republicans would object to the name? Is he saying that only Republicans know any Welsh History? As for Liddle, he seems to be gathering petition signatures pretty efficiently! Diolch iddo fe!
“Prince of Wales” will inevitably be abreviated to PoW, as was the case with the renamed former RAF military hospital in Ely, cambs transferred to the NHS. Ok, that was Princess of Wales as everything was Diana centred in those days. Anyway, I still remember it as the RAF PoW hospital, possibly due to the armed car park guards.
I’m not sure. I heavily suspect that most people will continue to call it the Second Bridge or the New Bridge or whatever they call it now. Only ‘official’ agencies such as government or the BBC will use the new name, and they will be too respectful to abbreviate.
However, the Welsh abbreviation PTC might provide a useful reminder of the three initial letters that are subject to aspirate mutation for those who like that sort of thing…
To me, whose Dad went to help run a POW camp in England at the end of WW2 and who spent a lot of time there being spoiled rotten by kind POWs, there is only one meaning to POW and it has nothing to do with any tywysog!
To me it’s just “The Bridge” because it’s the one I use the most, being the closest to my home in Somerset and the closest to my stepdaughter’s university residence in Cardiff. I will certainly not be calling it “The Prince Of Wales Bridge”!
The link quoted somewhere above my post seemed to be incomplete. It took me to the change.org website, but then that site could not find the petition in question (since it hadn’t been given the full URL). However, I eventually found the correct URL by googling, and then had no problem.
The incomplete link was in the 12th posting in this thread (for some reason I can’t link directly to it), and to me looks like:
whereas the more complete one that worked for me looks like:
…and that one worked for me.
Edit: OK, you can’t see from that what I mean, as the forum software has quoted part of the page linked to, but the url is the one I’ve mentioned above, but with the text
“-the-renaming-of-the-severn-bridge-to-the-prince-of-wales-bridge” tacked on to it (minus quotes)
There are indeed plenty of other places to discuss politics of the bridge. I don’t think anyone starts learning Welsh as a political act, but you very quickly notice, especially if you live in Wales, different attitudes to the language from very supportive to outright hostile. I kind of knew this and that i would be exposed to it more, but I wanted to learn anyway!
For any Welsh folk who have lived in the South of England, crossing either of the severn bridges is coming home, which is why whatever they are called in important to the people of the Southern half of Wales.
My personal opinion is that we should avoid any impression that the opinions expressed on the forum represent the views of all or even the majority of members.
As a valleys boy who returned to Wales some decades ago, I, for one, am far more interested in how much it’ll cost me to cross the bridges so my personal choice of name (if i cared) would be “Pont Di-dal”.
I agree with @Toffidil 's aversion to the political aspects of such a topic as this. When I tried to make a similar point on the forum some years ago, I was countered by the statement that “everything is political”. Even if that’s true, I still treasure this forum as a refuge from the fact.
We were talking about this at work. Apparently, the naming issue has come up, because the bridge will no longer be owned by the French company that built it keeping the naming rights. The ‘Prince of Wales’ name is because Prince Charles officially opened the bridge in 1996. It could have been worse, what if it was to be called the ‘William Hague Bridge’!
In fairness, we don’t usually get consulted in such things. However, when the official name isn’t popular, an alternative usually springs up. I’m not saying that was the case with the Armadillo (Millennium Centre) but it’s a great alternative anyway.
I was gutted to find out that my childhood Icon the Mighty ST James Park (think of the Arms Park for a sort of Welsh comparison) was renamed the Sports Direct Stadium so nothing can be that bad.
On paper I’m English (God made a mistake…, although my parents are lovely), but I grew up in Mid-Wales . Seeing the sign “Croeso i Gymru” on the M4 lifts my mood unbelievably, but I really start to feel I’m getting close to home after turning off the main road at Llanidloes and head out towards Machynlleth on the mountain road.
Glad I’m typing this and not dictating, I now have a lump in my throat…
I don’t get this whole ‘change the name of a stadium to the name of a sponsor’. With so much poverty in the world, how do these corporations justify having so much money to burn on re-naming stadia, to lose lots of customers who then have to put up with the BBC talking about the “Sports Direct” Stadium, the “Etihad Stadium” or the “Principality Stadium” [St James’ Park , Eastlands, The Millenium Stadium], when everyone else continues to use them by their proper names. It’s sheer madness to do this for a bridge and the bridge owners don’t even make any money out it!
As a Spurs fan, I’ve obviously been watching the development of our new ground with a great deal of interest. Some of the glossy “artists’ impressions” have featured the words “NAMING RIGHTS” in huge letters across the roofing. To me, from next season on, and maybe for a hundred more years (by the end of which we’ll be playing in the Irn Bru Intergalactic Space League against the likes of Dynamo Mars and Red Star Pluto) our home ground will be known as the Naming Rights Stadium.
Or maybe it will be named after a Middle Eastern airline like everyone else’s.
The ‘Naming Rights Stadium’ has a nice ring to it.
It works the other way too. Enfield Town moved to the Queen Elizabeth II Stadium (it was an athletics ground, Art Deco and is very lovely) after many years groundsharing, but the road is called ‘Donkey Lane’ so obvs, the fans call it ‘Donkey Lane’ and our mascot is a Donkey.
so nothing can be that bad.
, although my parents are lovely), but I grew up in Mid-Wales 