Pwllheli Harri Parri

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-Pwllheli - the Heart of Lleyn

-People reside

-all along this little peninsula.

-But all the paths lead to or flow to

-one place and to one town.

-Pwllheli is the heart of Lleyn.

-The main shopping town

-is a magnet to all of us.

-But does the heart

-of Lleyn's capital...

-..beat as regularly

-and as strongly as ever?

-Today, like yesterday...

-..Wednesday is the best day

-to visit Pwllheli.

-Why are you here today?

-Why are you here today?

-

-It's market day.

-So it's still popular?

-So it's still popular?

-

-Yes.

-What draws people here

-on market day?

-New potatoes.

-What have you come for?

-What have you come for?

-

-I'm not sure!

-I'm going!

-Ta-ra.

-Why come to Pwllheli on Wednesday?

-There are good shops here.

-Is it just shopping that

-attracts Lleyn folk to Pwllheli?

-I wouldn't like to live here.

-It's a great holiday destination!

-Those who lived in the countryside

-were called 'Lleyn Calves'.

-But the townsfolk

-were called 'Pwllheli People'.

-Pwllheli is as busy as ever...

-..on market day.

-A long time ago, you could get

-many things here, even a girlfriend!

-# I walked the narrow streets

-of Pwllheli fair

-# My heart brimmed with confidence

-# I was smart in my Sunday best

-# I'd eye the pretty girls,

-and speak to one or two

-# But none of the pretty

-Lleyn girls were interested in me! #

-Years ago,

-people and goods were sold here.

-You're still singing.

-You're still singing.

-

-Yes, now and again.

-Ballad singing is an old tradition.

-Ballad singing is an old tradition.

-

-Yes, very old.

-In the fairs, too?

-In the fairs, too?

-

-Yes.

-The ballads were then sold.

-The ballads were then sold.

-

-Yes.

-That was the point.

-Yes, the best balladeers

-sold the most ballads.

-What about the old employment fairs?

-There's talk of one in a ballad.

-"Old Cadwaladr came on his horse

-"From Cricieth to Pwllheli

-to hire four servants

-"When he approached me, smiling

-"I believed he'd be

-the nicest master in the world."

-But it wasn't the case.

-But it wasn't the case.

-

-It wasn't to be.

-I remember the ballad.

-The servants stood in a line

-and waited to be picked.

-Farmers would pick and choose.

-Yes.

-You've served through the years.

-What would a farmer look for?

-He wouldn't choose anyone weak.

-Working on a farm

-wasn't light work in those days!

-You remember the old Pwllheli fairs.

-Yes!

-Yes!

-

-What do you remember?

-It was a big event.

-We'd go on the half past three bus.

-When we were older,

-we could stay 'til ten o'clock.

-That was a big thing.

-I wasn't used to it.

-Plenty found love here.

-Plenty found love here.

-

-Yes.

-But you didn't?

-But you didn't?

-

-No, not in the fair!

-Did you find love closer to home?

-Did you find love closer to home?

-

-Far closer!

-Of all the romantic places

-on Lleyn...

-..there was only one place to bring

-a girlfriend on an evening date.

-The back row of the cinema

-in the old town hall!

-But, as a youngster, the cinema

-only held one attraction for me.

-I loved cowboy films.

-My great hero was Roy Rogers.

-They called Roy Rogers

-the king of the Wild West...

-..and his wife was the queen.

-He was the star of cowboy films.

-The room darkened,

-and the film began.

-The shooting,

-romancing and camaraderie.

-We'd relive the films back home.

-But the Lleyn countryside was

-different to the town of Pwllheli.

-In a Saturday matinee...

-..the countryside and town

-children met.

-If the film broke,

-everyone shouted and screamed...

-..before the film restarted.

-There were long queues

-past the Penlan pub.

-Tom Nefyn

-would be here on Saturday nights.

-He was evangelist minister.

-I once wrote about him.

-He was a one-off.

-He had a natural talent.

-Women and men queued together...

-..and Tom Nefyn preached to them.

-The queue listened to him.

-He'd be hit by a bottle today.

-They were attentive in those days.

-Tom Nefyn was as good

-an actor as Roy Rogers...

-..but he had a different message.

-He was a skilled communicator.

-He captivated his audience,

-just as Roy Rogers captivated me.

-But when the old town hall

-or Palladium doors opened...

-..he was wise enough to stop

-and we would go inside.

-If we consider the influence

-of violent films on youngsters...

-..these films were violent, too.

-People were shot and killed.

-There was also grief.

-But I was always aware

-that it was a make-belief world.

-It was a romantic world.

-They weren't really being shot.

-I understood the importance of a

-good story and colourful characters.

-THE BAPTISMAL

-"Yes, Mam, poor soul,

-was baptized by immersion, too."

-"Was this in the Baptist Chapel?"

-"No, in the sea."

-"No! Poor Mam

-was baptized in her bloomers!"

-"He put the upper part out of view

-in the sea as soon as possible."

-"I should hope so."

-"When he brought them back up...

-"..he made sure their backsides

-pointed towards the beach...

-"..and their front

-towards Anglesey."

-When I was a child, Pwllheli

-opened a whole new world to me.

-I had quite a sheltered upbringing

-on a rural farm in a small village.

-Pwllheli was a different world.

-There were extremes in Pwllheli.

-I experienced my first circus

-and religious gathering in Pwllheli.

-It's no accident that visitors have

-flocked to Pwllheli over the years.

-There was a concerted attempt

-to develop part of the town.

-Pwllheli's pioneering architecture

-is down to one man.

-During the Victorian Age...

-..the English architect

-Solomon Andrews came to Pwllheli.

-He transformed the seaside town

-into a holiday destination.

-Architect Arfon Hughes

-explained the background to me.

-These are Solomon Andrews's houses

-on Cardiff Road.

-That's what they're called.

-That's what they're called.

-

-Tell me about the architecture.

-It's Victorian,

-seaside architecture.

-It isn't heavy, it's quite light.

-The yellow brick

-brings it all together.

-It reminds us

-of sand and the seaside.

-Solomon Andrews

-must have been quite a character.

-I expect he was.

-He was a genuine entrepreneur.

-Didn't he come to Pwllheli

-by accident?

-He was on holiday in Llandudno.

-He saw an advert for

-land for sale in Pwllheli.

-I once saw the advertisement.

-It boasted of

-the tropical atmosphere.

-Yes, Solomon brought

-the West End to Pwllheli.

-He developed

-the new Victorian ethos...

-..of leisure time enjoyment.

-On a strip of sand by the sea...

-..he created a promenade

-and built a hotel.

-There was also a golf course,

-ten tennis courts...

-..and a cycling track.

-Pwllheli became

-an important sports venue.

-Prominent players

-came from Pwllheli.

-A pavilion was built for

-Dorothy Round, whoever she was...

-..in the Recreation Ground.

-Dorothy Round reached

-the Wimbledon final every year...

-..for a long time.

-I'm not sure whether she had

-links with Pwllheli, North Wales...

-..or Solomon himself!

-But the building was built for her.

-You had the honour

-of designing the Leisure Centre.

-If an honour,

-but it was one of my jobs.

-It's on the site of

-the old Recreation Ground.

-I corresponded

-with Solomon Andrews's family.

-They were delighted that a similar,

-but modern project...

-..was going to happen at Pwllheli.

-For better or for worse...

-..Solomon opened the door

-to transform the town forever.

-In Part Two, now that

-the world comes to Pwllheli...

-..has this rocked the boat?

-And the still waters

-that comforted Lleyn's famous bard.

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-As I walk around Lleyn...

-..I notice and

-appreciate anew its beauty.

-I value the language and heritage

-I received...

-..having been raised here.

-The boats came and went years ago.

-They now anchor and stay

-in the Marina.

-Wherever you are in Lleyn,

-you're never far from the sea.

-Like many places on the peninsula...

-..the people of Pwllheli look

-towards the sea for sustenance.

-The maritime academy,

-a development worth 7 million...

-..will promote

-nautical activities and skills.

-There was a need to develop

-what we have in Pwllheli.

-Anyone who understands sailing...

-..will acknowledge that Pwllheli is

-one of the best places in Britain...

-..if not the world,

-for sailing and competing.

-The college will give youngsters

-the necessary skills.

-Hopefully,

-they'll find work locally.

-We don't want

-young people to leave the area.

-We'll provide the skills

-to ensure they'll find work here.

-Eifion Owen

-is the chairman of CHIPAC...

-..the Pwllheli and District

-Youth Sailing Club.

-Many of the young champions

-already represent their country.

-When did you join CHIPAC?

-When did you join CHIPAC?

-

-Three years ago.

-I used to sail in an Optimist.

-But you enjoy sailing on this?

-But you enjoy sailing on this?

-

-Yes.

-What enjoyment do you get?

-What enjoyment do you get?

-

-I'm very competitive.

-There are many competitions.

-I like to beat my friends!

-When I was a lad...

-..the people who came to sail

-in Lleyn spoke English.

-Which language is spoken here?

-Which language is spoken here?

-

-Welsh.

-They're all local children

-who speak Welsh.

-Are you from Pwllheli?

-I come from Yorkshire,

-but we moved here.

-So you moved here?

-So you moved here?

-

-Yes.

-And you learnt Welsh?

-And you learnt Welsh?

-

-Yes.

-Will you win today?

-Will you win today?

-

-Maybe!

-You're not sure! You hope to win!

-You're not sure! You hope to win!

-

-Yes.

-Good luck.

-I spoke to an elderly man

-from Pwllheli.

-He said to me,

-"The Marina isn't helping Pwllheli."

-It isn't true, is it?

-No, but sadly,

-it's what people think.

-But those who know

-what they're talking about...

-..realize the sailing club brings in

-five million to the local economy.

-If we took away the Marina...

-..Pwllheli would be far worse off.

-We're all afraid of change,

-and everywhere changes...

-..but nowhere as much

-as Pwllheli over the years.

-The Lleyn capital, Pwllheli, has

-always been a popular destination.

-Many protested against

-Butlins coming to Pwllheli...

-..in the fifties.

-People said it would

-kill Lleyn and Pwllheli.

-It didn't kill Pwllheli or Lleyn.

-The culture and language

-of Lleyn are very tough.

-They'll keep up

-with the developments.

-I left Lleyn to go to college.

-I never came back to live here,

-except through memories.

-The memories of this peninsula

-have sustained many, not just me...

-..through hard times.

-To the poet Cynan...

-..Penlon Llyn,

-a mile outside Pwllheli...

-..represented home.

-It's been immortalized in a poem.

-Professor Gerwyn Williams is writing

-a book about the Chief Bard.

-This is the Felin Bach well.

-This is the Felin Bach well.

-

-Yes.

-The water is still flowing.

-Yes, it reopened in 1968.

-Cynan was invited to officially

-reopen it.

-He drank from the well

-during the ceremony.

-I don't know if I'd venture today!

-I'm not sure whether

-it's fit to drink!

-He refers to Ffynnon Felin Bach

-in his long poem Mab Y Bwthyn.

-Yes.

-The poem Mab Y Bwthyn

-put Cynan on the map.

-It certainly immortalized him.

-It was the crown-winning poem in the

-1921 National Eisteddfod Caernarfon.

-There are two parts to the poem.

-The first part dwells on

-his childhood in the Pwllheli area.

-He describes coming

-to the well as a lad.

-He had childhood memories

-of the place.

-It symbolizes the purity,

-goodness and simplicity of youth.

-He describes filling

-a jug for his Nain.

-Nain lived here in Penlon Llyn.

-She'd ask him to fetch water

-from the Felin Bach well...

-..so they could have

-a proper cup of tea.

-She preferred it to tap water.

-But the second part

-of Mab Y Bwthyn poem...

-..depicts a young Lleyn man

-during WWI.

-He describes the horrors of war...

-..alongside childhood memories.

-The ideal of purity and innocence...

-..is symbolized

-by Ffynnon Bach in the poem.

-"Nothing can lift my tired soul

-"Except water

-from Ffynnon Bach well."

-It vividly conveys

-the experience of war...

-..to the readers at home

-who had no concept of WWI.

-It also summarizes war to those

-who witnessed it first hand.

-Ifan Gruffydd,

-a soldier from Anglesey...

-..said that Cynan's poem

-captured their experience.

-It's a compliment to him in

-the sense that he wasn't a soldier.

-He was a stretcher-bearer

-and later a chaplain.

-But a former soldier

-said he captured his experience.

-Lleyn folk still flock

-to Pwllheli on market day.

-The buying and selling goes on...

-..whatever the weather.

-Why have you come today?

-Why have you come today?

-

-To scrape a living by selling eggs.

-I come every Wednesday

-all year round.

-I was the only one here

-one Wednesday in January.

-It had been snowing.

-Did you sell anything?

-Did you sell anything?

-

-Yes!

-Are they good eggs?

-Are they good eggs?

-

-They're the best...

-..because I'm the producer!

-Everything and everywhere changes.

-But as I wandered around

-Pwllheli and the peninsula...

-..visitors or not...

-..I realize life's treasures

-are still here in Lleyn.

-Cheers.

-I've seen the beauty once again.

-It's reaffirmed

-my appreciation of its people.

-This is where

-I was given my language.

-It's the language of Lleyn

-that I speak.

-My parents and this community

-gave me my values.

-I think about Lleyn when I write.

-I use Lleyn idioms.

-They're still with me.

-I return to Lleyn with gratitude...

-..for what I was given.

-S4C Subtitles by GWEAD

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