Georgia Ruth Williams 3 Lle


Georgia Ruth Williams

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-There's something amazing

-about Aber.

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-The pace is quite relaxed.

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-What Aber has offered me...

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-..has shaped who I am now as

-a musician and as a presenter too.

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-Aberystwyth's spirit

-never leaves you.

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-The reason why

-I chose South Beach...

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-..is because this is where

-young Aberystwyth people would come.

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-You'd have parties here

-that could go on all night.

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-You'd light a fire.

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-All sorts.

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-It's somewhere that felt safe.

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-It's quieter than the prom.

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-The prom is busier. You get

-holidaymakers eating ice cream.

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-Over here, it's quieter.

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-I always felt comfortable here.

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-I grew up in Aber with Mam and Dad

-and Nain, who lived with us too.

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-We moved from South Wales.

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-We lived in Llantwit Major

-until I was three.

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-Mam comes from the Midlands.

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-Dad comes from Tonyrefail

-near the Rhondda.

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-Mam came to Cardiff to study Law

-when she was 18...

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-..while Dad had been away a lot.

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-I see a lot of myself

-in Dad's story.

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-He decided when he was 16

-that he wanted to see the world.

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-He managed to persuade Nain,

-his mother...

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-..to take him down to Cardiff Docks,

-to the Merchant House...

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-..to sign up to go out to sea.

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-She thought,

-"Right, OK. Fair enough."

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-She wore her best clothes,

-took him down and he signed up.

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-He was away for years.

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-He'd come and go.

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-Teaching was one thing he did.

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-He did all sorts of jobs.

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-It's something I've grown up with -

-you don't have to be one thing.

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-It's good because I don't think

-I could choose just one thing.

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-I remember my first few days

-at Ysgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth.

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-I remember realizing

-there was a difference...

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-..between me and the other children.

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-"It's not going to be a problem...

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-"..but I have to learn

-to speak the same language as them."

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-Within a few months,

-it was no longer a problem.

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-I must have just

-absorbed the Welsh language.

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-I remember going home and trying

-to speak Welsh to Mam and Dad.

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-I remember them

-just looking at me...

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-..and thinking,

-"OK, this is happening again!"

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-I was a really happy child.

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-I liked having a joke.

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-I could also be quite introverted

-and serious.

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-I still have those sides to me.

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-I enjoy performing on one hand

-but I'm also quite shy.

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-That paradox was always there.

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-This is the Arts Centre.

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-I spent

-what feels like half my life here.

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-I did so much

-in this incredible building.

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-I have early memories

-of being on the Great Hall stage.

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-There's a lot of wood there.

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-I remember realizing there was an

-echo when you walked on the stage...

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-..which scared me.

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-I did a lot of choral singing.

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-I didn't sing by myself much.

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-I played instruments and I was happy

-enough playing those by myself.

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-Singing by myself

-felt a step too far at the time.

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-The story of how I started playing

-the harp is quite unexpected.

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-I was in Ysgol Gymraeg one day.

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-I was seven years old.

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-Everyone was told to think about

-an instrument they wanted to play.

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-They went down the register...

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-..and asked which instrument

-everyone wanted to play.

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-I thought of choosing the clarinet

-as I thought it was cool.

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-By the time

-they'd reached Williams...

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-..I was told there wasn't any room

-left in the clarinet classes.

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-"No-one's chosen the harp.

-Would you like to play the harp?"

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-I remember thinking, "OK. Fine."

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-I didn't think about it

-as a life decision.

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-Something that would be binding.

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-It wasn't quite my decision -

-fate led me to play the harp.

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-I was a good pupil.

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-I didn't always enjoy practising.

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-I was a little all or nothing

-with that concept.

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-I'd have spells of wanting to please

-and wanting to learn...

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-..and making sure

-I passed the grades...

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-..while at other times, I'd rebel

-against having to practise.

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-I'd decide

-I would find my own technique.

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-I was always somewhere between

-being formal and rebelling.

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-I think

-I'm still somewhere between the two.

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-I started thinking

-of making my own music...

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-..in the short period of time

-between leaving the sixth form...

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-..and preparing to go to Cambridge.

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-It felt like

-I was between two worlds.

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-I was nervous about leaving Aber

-but I was also very excited.

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-I knew there was a big world opening

-up to me full of possibilities.

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-As a part of that, I felt I had

-confidence I didn't have before...

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-..to start to try and write.

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-Around the same time,

-I started to see music differently.

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-Music had been something

-that you were taught...

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-..you were classically trained.

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-But I remember thinking there were

-other things I could do on the harp.

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-At the time,

-I loved listening to folk music...

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-..by people like Bert Jansch

-and John Renbourn.

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-People who played guitar

-in the finger-picking style.

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-I couldn't play the guitar but I

-thought I could try it on the harp.

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-I was trying to develop a style...

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-..which moved me away

-from the classic style.

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-I remember thinking I wanted to

-sing stuff which made sense to me.

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-I wanted to write the lyrics.

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-I started thinking

-about wanting to have a voice.

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-My first songs

-were all about friends.

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-I was aware that I was

-leaving something behind.

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-I was moving away

-to go to university...

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-..so I felt I wanted to document

-the friends I had in Aber.

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-I wrote about Fflur, my best friend.

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-I felt

-it was an important thing to do.

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-# When the days are long, Fflur #

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-I remember filming

-for a programme called Nodyn here.

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-It was an experience!

-It was a similar day to today.

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-It stays in the memory.

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-# When everything turns sour,

-Fflur, don't worry

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-# It'll be fine, you'll see #

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-Coming back to Aber

-is always so lovely.

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-I'm lucky I can come back regularly

-because Mam and Dad still live here.

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-It's still home.

-Aber is still home for me.

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-When I finished school or when

-I was preparing to finish school...

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-..I was ready to leave.

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-I was ready to see something new.

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-Here we are in Newnham College,

-Cambridge.

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-I studied English Literature.

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-It was great

-because I knew from the start...

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-..that I didn't want

-to be an academic...

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-..or anything

-where I had to use my degree.

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-So there wasn't any pressure on me.

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-It certainly

-increased my confidence.

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-At the beginning...

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-..I was scared of expressing

-my views in a roomful of people.

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-That changed over time.

-It was an important lesson to learn.

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-The history of Newnham College

-is very interesting.

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-As a feminist,

-it's a very important place.

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-It was founded in 1880...

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-..because there was no university

-education for women at the time.

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-It was a controversial idea.

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-Cambridge University

-were dead against the idea.

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-But after a lot of campaigning and

-battling by some amazing women...

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-..the college was established.

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-But it was decades

-between founding the college...

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-..and the university accepting women

-as official students.

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-Though women came here for three

-years, studying as hard as men...

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-..they didn't receive an

-official degree from the college...

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-..until the '40s!

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-So many incredible minds

-have walked through these gardens.

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-It makes you feel part

-of a special tribe of women.

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-It makes me feel very proud.

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-Being here for three years

-was great...

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-..because you lived

-in some sort of museum...

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-..but one that's alive.

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-I lived in the Peile building,

-which was lovely...

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-..because it has

-original William Morris wallpaper.

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-I didn't realize that at the time.

-I just thought it was nice.

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-Apparently, it's very important.

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-I feel that image I've given of

-life in Cambridge is quite sedate.

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-But I enjoyed myself here too.

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-It's a town

-where you can enjoy yourself.

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-It's a small town centre.

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-You can walk from here to the centre

-in 10-15 minutes.

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-I had good times here.

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-So, yes, I enjoyed myself.

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-I sat on that bench on the day

-I finished my third year exams...

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-..and drank champagne for hours.

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-It felt quite decadent at the time!

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-I had company - I wasn't alone.

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-There was a moment

-before I went to Cambridge...

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-..where I had to decide

-what I was going to pack.

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-I remember thinking

-if I was going to take the harp.

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-I remember thinking, "It is big!

-Is it a daft idea?"

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-Something inside me

-said that I had to take it.

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-If I didn't,

-maybe I wouldn't play it again.

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-I'm so glad looking back that

-I decided to bring the harp with me.

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-Otherwise, I wouldn't have written

-those early songs...

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-..I wouldn't have

-thought about recording them...

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-..and I wouldn't have sent them

-to Adam Walton at Radio Wales.

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-Adam Walton

-decided to play one of my songs.

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-That's when everything started.

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-Within a week of sending the song

-to Adam Walton...

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-..I received a phone call from

-Radio Cymru expressing an interest.

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-That really spurred me on.

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-I saw that people

-seemed to like the songs.

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-I felt to some extent that I had a

-split personality while I was here.

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-Though I did gigs here

-and wrote here...

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-..everything else

-was happening back home.

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-It felt odd.

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-I also felt that I had peace

-to try things out...

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-..so it was the perfect situation

-looking back.

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-# I came back after a while

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-# Vivid memories filling my mind #

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-What's so amazing about life...

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-..is the thread

-that goes from one thing to another.

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-Everything is linked.

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-If I think now

-about the decision to leave Aber...

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-..to bring the harp with me

-and to start writing...

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-..which would all eventually lead

-to me working on the radio...

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-..it's great, and it's something

-I couldn't have scripted for myself.

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-You don't realize at the time...

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-..that every decision you make

-carries such importance.

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-I've been very lucky.

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-I'm still amazed!

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-.

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-Subtitles

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-The Lleyn Peninsula

-means so many things to me.

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-There's magic here.

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-It feels so different.

-The light feels different.

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-The fact that it's a peninsula

-with the sea surrounding you almost.

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-The Lleyn Peninsula was

-where we went for family holidays.

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-We came here

-almost every Easter and summer.

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-We'd stay for about three weeks

-at a time.

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-We had a caravan,

-so that was always interesting.

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-One of my first memories

-is the place names.

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-Places like Anelog and Garn Fadryn.

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-They sound different to the Welsh

-I was familiar with in Aberystwyth.

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-There was even magic to the language

-that was part of the landscape.

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-One of the places that stays

-in my memory looking back...

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-..is Whistling Sands...

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-..where the sand literally whistles

-when you walk on it.

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-# Yes, there came a dawn once more

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-# Yes, the morning came around #

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-We'd spend days by the sea on Lleyn.

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-Swimming in the sea,

-climbing the rocks.

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-Though I was raised by the sea

-in Aberystwyth...

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-..there was a different feeling

-here.

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-I felt closer to the sea somehow.

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-I remember the first time we went

-to Bardsey Island on a boat.

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-That was an experience.

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-You could see why the pilgrims

-went there a long time ago.

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-There's something incredible

-about reaching an island on a boat.

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-We did a lot here but those are

-the things that stick in the memory.

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-# Etrai

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-# Summer's on its way

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-# Etrai #

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-What was lovely about coming here

-as a child...

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-..was that I could meet

-local children who spoke Welsh.

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-That was something new.

-They also had a different accent.

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-I was meeting Northwalians

-for the first time.

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-I always thought it would be nice

-to marry someone from Lleyn.

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-It was a fantasy of mine.

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-It's funny because it's come true.

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-I met Iwan

-when he was living in Llithfaen...

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-..with his brothers,

-Dafydd and Aled.

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-He said he'd take me

-to Nant Gwrtheyrn...

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-..as he couldn't believe

-I'd never been.

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-I remember us going there

-and it was a fantastic day.

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-It's an experience

-walking down this hill.

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-Something new is revealed

-at every turn.

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-As you walk over the hill

-and start to wander down...

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-..you see the trees and you know

-they lead to something...

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-..but you're not sure what.

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-That's until

-you go through the trees...

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-..and see how steep the road is.

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-You then see there's something

-in the valley.

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-Then you start to notice

-little things.

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-You see the history -

-that it used to be a quarry.

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-You see the old scars...

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-..where old industrial buildings

-have been left.

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-At last, you start to see the sea,

-which is so blue here.

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-It can feel that you're abroad.

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-When I come to Nant Gwrtheyrn,

-I associate it with Iwan...

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-..which is lovely because it's

-somewhere we enjoyed visiting...

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-..when we started seeing each other.

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-So, when we were looking

-for a wedding venue last year...

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-..Nant Gwrtheyrn

-seemed the obvious choice.

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-That's what happened, in May 2016...

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-..in that chapel.

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-It was amazing.

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-I remember seeing the faces

-of friends who'd come from afar...

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-..my university friends.

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-A lot of them

-had never been to Lleyn.

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-I remember thinking I was so glad

-they got to see this part of Wales.

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-So many people don't know

-about this part of the world.

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-Seeing people's enjoyment

-and reactions was nice.

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-# The nightingale

-and the pure lark #

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-Nant Gwrtheyrn

-has also inspired me musically.

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-The week after I first came here...

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-..my head was full of images

-of the journey down.

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-I felt I couldn't stop

-thinking about the trees...

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-..about Llithfaen and about Nant.

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-A song just came to me

-which became the album title.

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-That feeling

-of having found something here...

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-..I wasn't sure

-if I could return to that feeling...

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-..because I'd had to go back

-to Cardiff.

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-It had a major influence

-on my music.

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-# Just a pair of gloves so white #

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-I'm very lucky

-with the response to the record.

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-I felt that people had understood

-what I was trying to say.

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-It's amazing

-that a collection of 12 songs...

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-..can lead to so many things,

-such as travelling.

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-I'm so lucky.

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-We went to India and Vietnam

-to perform.

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-Places I wouldn't have visited

-but for music.

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-I won the Welsh Music Prize

-and sang with the Manics.

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-They sound quite surreal

-when I say them out loud.

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-It almost doesn't feel like

-they happened.

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-It's strange how creating something

-can lead to more.

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-It grows and things bind together.

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-The experience of revisiting

-these three incredible places...

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-..has been lovely, to be honest.

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-It's been an opportunity

-to reflect on the past...

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-..and also to think about the future

-and what I want for my family.

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-It's made me think about the

-importance of a place for a child...

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-..and how it shapes

-your entire life, really.

0:23:190:23:22

-It never leaves you either -

-you'll keep those memories forever.

0:23:220:23:26

-S4C Subtitles by Testun Cyf.

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