Oxford Welsh learners group

chris-roberts · October 28, 2022, 8:26pm

Hope to see you next time Sue.

johnwilliams_6 · October 30, 2022, 10:12am

Helo bawb - same as usual for the first week in November with meetups on Tuesday & Friday. Do come and join us for a sgwrs if you have the opportunity (get in touch for more info or if you’ve any questions)

12:00 Tuesday 1st November / dydd Mawrth 1af Tachwedd ( via Zoom - let me know if you need login details )
12:00 Friday 4th November / dydd Gwener 4edd Tachwedd ( ‘Space for Reading’, Weston Library, Broad Street, Oxford - inside entrance hall to the right, by the windows on opp. side from the cafe. The coffee table area’s reserved for SSiW from 12 to 1pm)

Hwyl a chadw’n saff
John

johnwilliams_6 · November 6, 2022, 4:28pm

Helo bawb - there may be a change to this week’s Friday meetup as it seems there’s an event in the Weston Library entrance hall which may be quite noisy and might drown out our sgwrs. I’ll post an update once we’ve decided where will be the best place to meet up this week.

12:00 Tuesday 8th November / dydd Mawrth 8fed Tachwedd ( via Zoom - let me know if you need login details )
12:00 Friday 11th November / dydd Gwener 11eg Tachwedd ( to be confirmed )

Hwyl a chadw’n saff
John

johnwilliams_6 · November 8, 2022, 7:29pm

NB We’ll be sticking with the ‘Space for Reading’ (Weston Library, Broad Street) this week but bringing this Friday’s meetup forward an hour to 11:00 because of the lunchtime event there

johnwilliams_6 · November 13, 2022, 11:33am

Helo bawb - we’ll be back to our usual time for the Friday meetup this week

12:00 Tuesday 15th November / dydd Mawrth 15fed Tachwedd ( via Zoom - let me know if you need login details )
12:00 Friday 18th November / dydd Gwener 18eg Tachwedd ( ‘Space for Reading’, Weston Library, Broad Street, Oxford - inside entrance hall to the right, by the windows on opp. side from the cafe. The coffee table area’s been reserved for SSiW)

As always, new faces very welcome - since the summer we’ve had half a dozen so you wouldn’t find yourself as the only new one!

Hwyl a chadw’n saff
John

liz-ellis · November 18, 2022, 8:15am

Hi John
Is there Ssiw welsh scwrs in the Bodleian today at 12?
Diolch
Liz

liz-ellis · November 18, 2022, 8:16am

Ignore my message as can now see this!

bethan-williams-1 · November 18, 2022, 4:38pm

Thank you everyone for very enjoyable sgwrs at the Weston this lunchtime. It was lovely to meet you for the first time Liz. I have checked and Gwasanaeth Nadolig is on 28/11 and Cymru v Lloegr pêl droed 29/11 ! I’m very happy Hwyl Bethan

johnwilliams_6 · November 20, 2022, 9:23am

Helo bawb - same as usual for this week’s meetups. Do get in touch if you have any questions or would like more information

12:00 Tuesday 22nd November / dydd Mawrth 22ain Tachwedd ( via Zoom - let me know if you need login details for Zoom )
12:00 Friday 25th November / dydd Gwener 25ain Tachwedd ( ‘Space for Reading’, Weston Library, Broad Street, Oxford - inside entrance hall to the right, next to windows on opp. side from the cafe. The coffee table area’s reserved for SSiW)

Hwyl a chadw’n saff
John

owen-mcknight · November 25, 2022, 12:05pm

Welsh-language carol service in Jesus College Chapel on Monday. All welcome!

And if anyone’s interested, I’ll see if I can show you the views from our new building afterwards …

johnwilliams_6 · November 27, 2022, 10:01am

Helo bawb - just the one meetup this week as on Friday we’ll be having our Cinio Nadolig. However there’s the opportunity to attend the Welsh carol service tomorrow (Monday) in Jesus College Chapel (see previous post by @owen-mcknight):

12:00 Tuesday 29th November / dydd Mawrth 29ain Tachwedd ( via Zoom - let me know if you need login details for Zoom )

Hwyl a chadw’n saff
John

johnwilliams_6 · December 4, 2022, 11:28am

Helo bawb - we had a great Cinio Nadolig on Friday (diolch @owen-mcknight for pic below) and this week, as well as the usual Zoom meetup on Tuesday, on Friday there’s a change of venue as we’ll be having mulled wine+mince pies in Stanford Uni’s Montag Centre in the High Street. Do please let me know if you’d like to join us so we can judge demand for +

12:00 Tuesday 6th December / dydd Mawrth 6ed Rhagfyr ( via Zoom - contact me for login details )
12:00-13:30 Friday 9th December: mulled wine+mince pies / dydd Gwener 9fed Rhagfyr: gwin poeth+mins peis (Stanford House - get in touch for details )

Hwyl a chadw’n saff
John

johnwilliams_6 · December 11, 2022, 10:08am

Helo bawb – after mulled wine and mince pies in Stanford House on Friday (a diolch iddyn nhw for use of a room), this Friday we’re back in the Weston Library - newcomers welcome as always Do get in touch if you have any questions/comments

12:00 Tuesday 13th December / dydd Mawrth 13eg Rhagfyr ( via Zoom - contact me for login details )
12:00 Friday 16th December / dydd Gwener 16eg Rhagfyr ( ‘Space for Reading’, Weston Library, Broad Street, Oxford - in entrance hall on the right, next to the windows & on opp. side from the cafe. The coffee table area’s reserved for SSiW from 12 to 1pm ).

We may have a Tuesday Zoom the following week, but that’s likely to be our last meetup before the New Year, so do try and come along on Friday if you can.

Having said that, if the weather’s dry between Christmas and the New Year we could perhaps have a walk+sgwrs to blow the cobwebs away if people are interested (maybe with more gwin poeth+minspeis! ) - let me know if you think you might be

Hwyl a chadw’n saff
John

johnwilliams_6 · December 18, 2022, 9:29am

Helo bawb - just the one meetup this week, via Zoom:

12:00 Tuesday 20th December / dydd Mawrth 20fed Rhagfyr ( via Zoom - contact me for login details )

After this we’ll be taking a break until the first week in January, although…

See Oxford walks thread for updates

Nadolig Llawen!
John

owen-mcknight · January 1, 2023, 4:46pm

Blwyddyn Newydd dda! Here is a New Year challenge for us all from my colleague the archivist at Jesus College. Most of the documents in the archives are actually in Latin or in English, and this is one of the first he has found with text in Welsh. Please can you help us understand it? It’s part of an early 18th-century dispute about who was eligible to become a Fellow of the college, in particular their pedigree - you can see a family tree at the top.

Can we try to transcribe and translate the lines starting ‘Barchedig Syr …’ and ‘ni chefais …’?

siaronjames · January 1, 2023, 5:38pm

Here’s what I can make out, though there are a couple of things I can’t quite get.

Barchedig Syr, mi a chwiliais y llyfran achau, a chard Bodowryd, nid oes yma neb o henw Rich’d) Dean
Honourable Sir, I searched the family book and Bodowryd card, there is not anyone of the name Richard Dean
[crossed out text] na neb o henw Grace yn wraig
[crossed out text] nor anyone a wife named Grace
ni chefais neb o henw Grace yn wraig i Owen Hughes o’r hendref.
I had no-one named Grace wife of Owen Hughes of the ancestral home.
Tybyceach gan i Elin merch Rowland Bulkeley o dref Moorgoch oedd ei wraig a [???(aeth?)] y gorennydd rhwng ei fab ef Owen Owens a Francis Bulkeley ac a Wm Wynn o’r chwaen ddu
I suspect Elin daughter of Rowland Bulkeley of the town of Moorgoch was his wife and the kinship [???(went?)] between his son Owen Owens and Francis Bulkeley and William Wynn of the black chance(?)

The bits I’m not sure of are in [ ] with question marks. I’m not altogether sure of the correct meaning of “chwaen ddu” either.
I hope it helps a little anyway. (and hope you don’t mind me gatecrashing the Oxford group thread!)

owen-mcknight · January 1, 2023, 8:41pm

Standing ovation here! Diolch yn fawr iawn. That works very well in the context of these documents about investigating family connections. I think the word which is hidden in the crease could be ‘wrth’, if that makes sense. And it looks as if there is or was a placename ‘Chwaen Ddu’ on Ynys Môn. When I’m back in work, I’ll ask the archivist how this all fits together!

siaronjames · January 2, 2023, 8:23am

Chwaen Ddu would certainly make more sense as a place name. Glad I could help!

johnwilliams_6 · January 2, 2023, 9:40am

Helo bawb - having welcomed several newcomers to the group this autumn there are now around 20 of us. I’m conscious, though, that only 10 or so of us have been able to meet up more or less regularly (not all at the same time!). Competing work and other commitments can make it difficult to make weekday lunchtime meetups, so I’m wondering if additional regular meetups might be helpful for those of us who haven’t been able to join in very often. Maybe early or mid-morning, afternoon or evening? A different day of week? At the weekend? Comments/suggestions, please!

Meantime, this week we’ll continue the current pattern of meetups:

12:00 Tuesday 3rd January/ dydd Mawrth 3edd Ionawr ( via Zoom - let me know if you need login details for Zoom )
12:00 Friday 6th January/ dydd Gwener 6ed Ionawr ( ‘Space for Reading’, Weston Library, Broad Street, Oxford - inside entrance hall to the right, next to windows on opp. side from the cafe. The coffee table area’s reserved for SSiW)

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!
John

PS Well, I was looking back at last year’s posts, trying to remember what we’d been doing in 2022, and then thought might as well jot it down for the benefit of anyone with equally hazy memories & for any newcomers who might like to get an idea of what we’ve been up to (let me know if I’ve forgotten anything ): Review of Ox SSiW 2022 (ed).pdf (67.1 KB)

owen-mcknight · January 2, 2023, 1:27pm

The review of the year is a great idea! I probably wouldn’t have persevered with Welsh without the company of and informal support from this group. Thanks in particular to John for keeping the meetups goings and taking the initiative with walks.

I’m happy to continue dropping into the Friday lunchtime meetings when I’m available, and I’ll always have some commitment or other on a different time or day, but interested to hear what will work for other people.