Gwerinwyr Diary July 2025 by Sue Venn
Our first booking of the year was at the end of February,
when we spent a very pleasant evening with the ladies of Machen WI. This was
swiftly followed by St David’s Day at Foxhunters Care Community near Abergavenny.
We danced and played for them, with Barbara Griffiths again as MC, and even got
some residents to join in with one of our simple dances, most, but not all, from
the comfort of their armchairs.
On
30th March we had our annual visit to Llanover for the NGS open
gardens day. Lovely weather, lots of visitors, and record amounts raised for the
charities.
Then a short break before the 10th May found us at another regular...the Tredegar House Folk Festival. Yet more good weather which brought out the crowds over the weekend. We danced on the Saturday and did a spot in both dance marquees. As well as the free dance displays, there were plenty of concerts, workshops, free entertainment, real ale bar, food and most importantly....sunshine.
As a consequence of having a local Hungarian dance group at the festival, GG was proud to be asked to take part in a Welsh/Hungarian day at Lisvane Memorial Hall in Cardiff, celebrating our two cultures. It was a wonderful afternoon and we were entertained by singer Daf Jones and Hungarian musicians and dancers. GG demonstrated 3 dances, then got the audience on their feet for a twmpath dance. Colourful crafts were on sale as well as tasty Hungarian food.
It is many years (well before Covid) since we have been away as a group to a weekend festival, so we thoroughly enjoyed our time at the Teignmouth Folk Festival in June. This is mainly a Morris dancing event, with some Appalachian sides and a couple of extras – of which GG was one. The forecast was for it to be exceptionally hot (which would have been unbearable for the ladies in their long woollen costumes), but fortunately it was cooler than we feared, and we even got rained on and didn’t mind! We danced at 3 spots along the promenade on Saturday, plus we had the honour of the 45 minute guest performance at the main venue (The Triangle)...all dance venues are outdoors. On Sunday we did 2 spots before the lunch break, and then made our way back to South Wales. Quite a few of us stayed at the lovely Cliffden Hotel in Teignmouth. It has extensive grounds which, happily for us, meander down to exactly the part of the promenade where Saturday’s procession started. It also has an excellent indoor swimming pool.
During the last 18 months, we have been delighted to recruit 4 new dancers; however, Gwerinwyr Gwent is still seeking new members, and beginners or experienced dancers/musicians are very welcome. Practice night (numbers permitting) is Thursday 8-10pm at the Graig Community Hall (opposite the Ruperra PH).
For more details visit our website www.gwerinwyrgwent.org.uk, or ring 01495 271953.