Yn gyntaf, diolch yn fawr!!
Secondly, you arrived just as I was leaving for the second time!! I wasn’t ever Yorkshire either, but I still loved the folk and got on fine, except for the more snobby and old-fashioned in Harrogate. Maybe that attitude has gone now and it’s just like the rest of Yorkshire? Hwyl pawb!
Hi all, I hope to join your meet up in the new year. I live in Sheffield. I learned a little Welsh when I trained as a nurse in Bangor but that, scarily, was over 20 years ago! Hopefully (gobeithio 
) there are still some words of Cymraeg up there somewhere. Working through the first 5 units of level one. Wow. Feels like being thrown in the deep end but enjoying this different way of learning.
Hi rayking, you will be very welcome at our meeting. We are a small group and have a complete range of abilities from beginner to first language speaker. You can speak as much or as little as you like. I am sure your welsh will come back to you. 
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You will be very welcome. There is a group meeting in Sheffield but we will be glad to see you in Leeds as well or instead. The group will meet in January but I am unlikely to be there; I’ll make it if I have recovered sufficiently.
If you come out of the main entrance of Leeds railway station and
turn to the right, along the row of waiting taxis, then the Brewery Tap
is on the left opposite Evans Cycles.
We meet in the upstairs room from 12:00 noon onwards with people
arriving until about 1:00pm and leaving any time up to about 3:00pm.
We structure each meeting to include social time, a game, Welsh conversation, dim Saesneg time, etc.
The story for January is Elen Benfelen (Goldilocks) so you have plenty of time to look up the Welsh for bear, porridge, broken and other elements of the story that will not be part of your normal vocabulary! Don’t worry, the atmosphere is 100% encouragement and support. You won’t be left to struggle.
Hope to see you in January, but may have to be February.
Raymond
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Thank you both!
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Hi, bawb. My name’s Rod. Used to live in Cardiff and could get by in simple Welsh but that was years and years and years ago! Would love to come along and try to get some of my Welsh back if there’s room for one more!
Nadolig llawen i chi gyd
Rod
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There’s always room, you’d be most welcome. Nadolig llawen i chi hefed.
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Diolch yn fawr, Flora
Sorry for the delay and thank you to Lynette for providing a prompt reponse while I’ve been away. We would be very glad to meet you. Have you seen the suggestions in message 124 of this thread? You will get an idea of how we attempt to structure our meetings but the topics and times are quite flexible. We won’t stop an activity that is going well just because it is the time to change to another. If there is stuff prepared for the later acitivity and it isn’t used we just save it for the month after.
Whereabouts are you travelling from? People come to the Leeds meeting from all directions!
Also, are you using SSiW materials? The vocabulary used in the activities is often biased to include words we have already encountered. We learn a lot at the meetings but they are not lessons; they are an opportunity to hear and speak Welsh.
I am still very dubious about being there in January but look forward to meeting you in February.
Blwyddyn Newydd Hapus, Raymond
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Hi, Raymond - sorry for the late reply - busy over Christmas. I am living in Harehills at the moment but I plan to move to a different area, hopefully Kirkstall or Headingley, fairly soon. I’ve had a look at the info in this thread - the meetings look really interesting. I’m not using SSiW materials at the moment and my studying habits are a bit chaotic - I just have a look at the BBC Cymru website when I have a bit of time. Am hoping that I’ll become a bit more systematic when I start coming to the meet ups. Looking forward to meeting you all soon,
Diolch yn fawr a blwyddyn newydd dda i bawb,
Rod
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Look forward to meeting you later this month
Ruth
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I managed to walk a few (as in 3, sometimes 4) steps without crutches yesterday so I’m dead chuffed with the progress but I’ll need to do much, much better before I will stand all the way to Leeds on a crowded train.
Presumably you will know where to come to seeing as you are in Leeds to start with?
It looks likely that there will be two people new to the group and only a couple of regulars missing leaving a good mix of experience and ability.
The story for November didn’t really fit into the meeting and as I didn’t have a date for my opertion at that time I gave it to Eileen to use at the January meeting in case I couldn’t be there. So everything has worked out well; you will have a very experienced leader and a very suitable story.
Elen Benfelen (Goldilocks) will allow you to use colours, sizes, pieces of furniture, other familiar stuff like walk, flowers, cottage, wood, climbing stairs, hot, cold, chair, table, bed, hard, soft, door, window, path, etc. But you may need to look up other things like bear, porridge, spoon, lumpy, cross (angry), scared, etc. The story is just a start; there is room to describe the scenes, the clothes, the interior of the house, the furniture and so on. Just go for it.
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I hope you continue to make good progress @raymondkefford and soon you’ll be 
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Can you take a few minutes to discuss a suggestion for the February meeting, please? If there is a story you would particularly like I will see what I can do with it but I wondered if a change might be a good idea and thought you may like to choose a song instead. A rousing march like Men of Harlech might be inappropriate but what about something like Calon Lan, Ar Lan Y Mor or Bugeilio’r Gwenith Gwyn? We’ll have many of the things that make the stories work, just a tune instead of pictures, still plenty of repetition, some new words to extend the vocabulary and you will know in advance if you want to do some preparation. I’m open on this one and you can discuss it on here or when you meet on Saturday, it’s all the same to me.
Raymond
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Hi Raymond, I hope you’re recovering well from your op.
There were 4 of us at Leeds today: Carys, Geraint, Eileen and me. We played a card game that Eileen brought along and, as requested, briefly discussed in Welsh your question about story versus song for future meetings. We were all agreed that we’d prefer a story as we felt that a song might disturb other customers more. We didn’t read Elen Benfelen so that one could be used next time.
I see you’ve booked mini-bootcamp for March - da iawn ti!
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Can I just check that you guys are still planning on meeting on Saturday? I’ve been meaning to come for a while (since I moved up north last year), but have always been busy each time you’ve met thus far.
Yes, and you will be very welcome to join us. Have you seen the directions further up this thread (such as message 1) that explain where we meet? A number of us come by train and some on the bus - the Brewery Tap is between the train and bus stations. Times have to be a bit flexible as trains and buses can occasionally be late. Also, we have a loose structure to each meeting and message 32 will give you an idea of what to expect. Don’t be put off by any of it though - everyone is patient, encouraging and supportive. Just come up the steps, call out ‘Prynhawn da, pawb’ and you’ll soon realise which table to come to!
See you on Saturday,
Raymond
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I’ll be there. Nice to know you are able to get there Raymond.
Ruth
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Yes, I can walk without any sticks now but I’ll take a leaf out of Emma’s book and get the stopping train as there is very seldom a seat on the firstTP.
You’ve just time to brush up your vocabulary for the Goldilocks story such as bear, porridge,bowl, spoon, chair, bed, room, stairs, lumpy, soft. There is plenty of straightforward stuff included in each picture, though, such as walking, looking, flowers, the house with its windows, doors and furniture, the colours and numbers of objects, etc. You aren’t going to be short of something to say!
Should be fun.
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It was good to see you all on Saturday after my enforced absence of three months. Even better to have a new face in the group. Better still that she fitted in so well. We look forward to seeing you again.
Are there any suggestions for an activity at the next meeting? I liked Eileen’s card game and suggestion about the story so maybe we could find something in that direction. All ideas welcome!.
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