Advice from Dewi Sant

“Do the little things,” said Dewi Sant.

5 minutes is enough to change the world…

Dear Friend of Wales,

The fight for the future of the Welsh language has almost been won!

• Welsh speakers have better legal status than at any time since the Middle Ages
• The numbers of people who can speak Welsh are rising
• Bilingualism is a central part of public life, and a stated aim of our Government
• Even large companies from outside Wales are providing services in Welsh
• The current situation is encouraging and the future is looking even better…

That might strike you as an unexpected start to this page, so I’d better introduce myself before going any further. My name is Aran Jones, and I’m Cymuned’s Chief Executive. I learnt Welsh as an adult (in my 30s!) and by now use the language in every aspect of my day-to-day life. It was a great pleasure to write that first paragraph, not least because it is – at least factually – true!

The fight for the future of the Welsh language has almost been won!

But another struggle, a far more important one, is just beginning. This might be the most important fight for the future of our country since the one we lost against Edward I in 1283.

That’s quite a claim, I know. Let me explain…

The Wales we know – Wales of the farms and quarries, Wales of the rural villages and market towns, Wales of the coal valleys – is dying. There is a sickness spreading through it like cancer, clotting our blood, draining our energy, killing our country.

House by house, pub by pub, school by school, farm by farm, the cancer is turning what we know and love into something strange, something foreign – something fatal.

It is not people but attitude which has made this cancer. It is slowly tearing our lives to pieces, sometimes without us even noticing. It has grown out of a lack of respect, an apathy, a crazy housing market, low quality jobs (where there are any at all), a lack of education, a lack of support and a lack of hope.

Cymuned is not a language movement. We can claim no part in the historic victories of the last few decades – those belong to schools and colleges and other committed and enthusiastic movements.

We are something different – a community movement, which is concerned with the sickness undermining all our communities, and which demands the right for our communities to continue and to develop and to strengthen as a vital part of the modern world.

There is a huge pressure on us all which, by now, is shattering our country, driving us out of our communities, away from our friends and families, into some kind of grim underworld where things like language and culture are forgotten in the endless rush of our daily lives. I genuinely believe that this pressure, which is busy killing off our communities, will also lead to the death of the Welsh language as a living, community language.

But you can change all this with a single piece of paper!

Cymuned has built a completely new framework over the last year – a framework which enables anyone, in any place, to make a very real difference.

We are coming to think of it as ‘The 5 Minute Revolution’ - and this is how it works:

We have a list of websites for each campaign we’re working on (such as Homes4Locals.com, Tax200.com, Shops4Locals.com, Gweithio.com), and we work hard to promote those websites. When someone agrees with the message on one of the sites, she or he subscribes to our weekly e-mail.

The weekly e-mail brings news about all the campaigns, as well as a list of simple steps she or he can take to help spread the word.

When someone offers to spread the word in any way at all, we then send them an invitation to our private messageboard – the heart of the movement, where almost all the discussion and preparation for the campaigns takes place.

And, of course, the e-mail has a link in it every week to a page which explains how and why supporters should become members and help us to keep on growing – maybe you arrived at this page by clicking that link!

For you to see how this is working, here are one or two facts. We now have well over 1100 members on the weekly e-mail, including people from every part of Wales as well as overseas. Campaigns such as Shops4Locals.com and Homes4Locals.com are being run by local groups throughout the entire country – not to mention in Kernow (Cornwall) and England! The more people who promote the campaigns, the more people who subscribe to the e-mail list, and the more people (in the long run) who will come out to rallies to put pressure on our county councils to commit to the changes we believe are needed urgently.

I have lived in Efailnewydd (about a mile and a half from Pwllheli) since 1986 in a terrace of ten houses (little cottages). When I first came here, 2 of the cottages were holiday homes and the rest were homes to Welsh-speaking families. Now there are only three Welsh-speaking families left – the other 7 are all holiday homes. In the holidays and at weekends, you can only hear English. A friend of mine was in the local Spar in Abersoch, waiting to pay, and speaking Welsh to her friend who was also waiting to pay. This English woman turned at them and said “Do you mind not speaking that stupid language in front of me?”. Ann Thomas, Efailnewydd

Is this the most effective framework for community involvment in Wales?

Perhaps a little cheekily, we believe it is! We see new people getting in touch with us every single day, and the movement is growing so quickly it has become almost impossible to do everything we need to with only one full time employee.

The more supporters we have, of course, the more we can do. Sometimes quietly, sometimes a little more loudly, members of Cymuned are changing the country we live in. Over 2000 people have already become members – people who love the history, culture and language of their country, people who are willing to stand bravely against those who would be only too happy to see Wales turned into West England.

• Members of Cymuned have been forming Community Land Trusts to provide affordable housing for local people.
• Members of Cymuned have been working to form Cymuned Business Networks to strengthen to local economy in our towns and villages.
• Members of Cymuned have been part of the Commission for Racial Equality’s ‘Croeso’ project to make sure that new arrivals to our communities make the effort to become a real part of our communities, and are welcomed for doing so.
• Members of Cymuned work to encourage their county councils to refuse planning permission except for local need (as is already being done in parts of England) and to make sure that every school in Welsh-speaking areas gives their students a full bilingual education.

Cymuned has already succeeded in strengthening ‘Iaith Pawb’, the Assembly’s weak and watery vision for the future of the language, we have succeeded in putting a halt to economically-flawed plans to over-develop the Pwllheli Marina for private gain, and we’ve made sure that the subject of affordable housing is one of the main political discussions in our country today.

This is the work that is changing our nation.

It’s often been thought that only Welsh speakers join groups like Cymuned, but we’re making a nonsense of that, with members from throughout Wales who don’t speak Welsh, not to mention members from England, Scotland, Ireland, America and Australia!

Our family farm happens to be in a very special area – stunning views in the heart of the countryside, and a short journey of about three-quarters of an hour to the nearest large town, Llandudno. Ideally, I would love to live on the farm, but there’s one problem. It’s such a popular area, it’s attracting wealthy English people to live there. In the local primary school, my two nieces are the only children left who speak Welsh. I can’t go back to live there, because I don’t want my children to grow up in an English-speaking community. Siân Rhun Griffiths, Conwy

We are a movement that has responded imaginatively and effectively to the challenges of a new millennium – our promotional websites and our weekly e-mail have brought together over a thousand people from every corner of the world to express their willingness to work for a better future for Wales.

In a year or two, those thousand will have become far more…

And we’ve got even bigger ideas…

As our numbers go up, we’ve started to think about some very exciting possibilities. We’re keen to develop a DVD to promote the work that needs doing for Wales and the Welsh language, we’re keen to help businesses develop ‘local’ currencies to help them compete against overpowering non-local chain stores, and we’re keen to develop a network of enterprise training experts to help teach young and not so young people from Wales the vital skills they need to succeed as entrepreneurs.

But we can’t do all this without support.

I understand that your country is important to you, and that you’re aware of how quickly the housing market is destroying our communities, how weak our local economies have become, and how few of our young people have a future to look forwards to.

I understand that you, like many others, are concerned about the future of local communities throughout Wales. But, like everyone, you’re very busy, and you don’t have the time to do everything you’d like to in order to help build a future for our communities, our country and our language.

We can help. When you become a member of Cymuned, you will be making sure that we can do even more work on behalf of communities throughout the country. Some members pay as little as £2 a month, and that’s enough to make all the difference.

It’s vitally necessary work. In 1961 there were 279 Welsh-speaking communities. In 1981 there were 66.

Today, there are 17. You can see the heart-breaking pattern, which also reflects the overall decline in community strength throughout the country, below.

Proportion of Welsh speakers

In areas like Cwmystwyth it’s completely surreal to talk about controlling the housing market. There can’t be more than two or three houses here that are less than £100,000. Everything on the market is impossibly out of reach for local workers on ordinary salaries. Meredydd Evans, Cwmystwyth

How can you become a Cymuned member?

Before I explain, I’d like to share with you my experience of becoming a member – in the days before we had any English forms! I wasn’t very fluent at the time (filling in the form was quite a challenge in itself!) but I knew somehow that I was doing the right thing. I signed up to pay as much as I could afford on a monthly basis (I was working freelance at the time, so I didn’t have a lot of spare cash, but I could see something important when it stared me in the face), and sent the form off.

It was a bit of a shock to my mother when she heard! She suspected all sorts of terrible things about Cymuned – but she’s a member herself now…;-) I had no doubts myself – I knew that something had to be done to build a future for the language, for Welsh-speaking communities and for communities throughout the whole of Cymru.

When I was in primary school in Llanbrynmair there were about 70 students in the school. A handful came from English backgrounds, and the majority from Welsh-speaking homes. In my year, 3 children out of 15 came from homes that weren’t naturally Welsh-speaking. By now, the situation has turned on its head – only a bare handful of children come from Welsh-speaking homes. Newcomers are the reason for this is. Huw Morgan, Llanbrynmair

Within a week, I’d received a membership card and a welcome letter in the post – it was another serious challenge to read the letter, but a great feeling when I’d finished working out what it meant! The next time I heard about a Cymuned meeting in my area, I went along to see what kind of people would be there – and was welcomed with real warmth, despite my very wobbly Welsh.

Seeing that the members of Cymuned were so sincere, so ready to work for a better future for us all, it was clear to me that my decision to join had been one of the most sensible choices I’ve made.

One way or another, I’ve been lending a hand with Cymuned ever since. I couldn’t begin to tell you how much I respect the other members I’ve come to know. They’re hard-working people, people who care deeply about their communities, their language and their country, people who are ready to do anyone a favour – even a slow-thinking learner like me who needed to hear everything twice!

By now, some of my best friends are people I came to know through Cymuned – and it is an enormous privilege to be able to work with some of the finest people I have ever met, in any country. As one of the most important but unsung figures in 20th century Welsh history, Emyr Llywelyn, said in our annual conference, the greatest strength of the movement is that ‘Cymuned really is a community’ (Cymuned is the Welsh for community).

I was worried when planning permission was granted in my village about four years ago. The houses were being sold before they’d even been built, and there weren’t even signs put up locally to say that they were for sale. In the end there were more and more of people aged 65 to 75 around the village. No children, no Welsh, just their own little community, like a ‘Brookside’ for pensioners in a little village in North Wales. Emlyn Roberts, Llanfrothen

I would be really pleased if you would choose to become part of that community

As a Cymuned member, you’ll get a weekly e-mail and a monthly newsletter, and you’ll hear immediately about every new idea we have for direct, practical ways to make a difference to our communities – there’s something new almost every month at the moment!

You’ll receive invitations to the social evenings arranged by your local Campaign Committee, where you’ll be likely to meet some of the most colourful characters in our country today.

But more importantly than all that, you will know that you are helping to build a Wales with good quality housing and work for local people, and a real future for our language. You will know that you are helping to build a future for
your children, and the children of your family and friends.

You will also know that you are taking action promptly, and making an immediate difference, as is so urgently needed. Let no-one forget how frighteningly quickly our communities are changing, and how important it is for us to respond as fast as possible.

And can we offer you a very special CD?

We are genuinely grateful to everyone who becomes part of Cymuned, and by doing so helps us to lobby, to protest, to form local business networks, to set up trusts to build affordable housing for local people, to spread the word about Wales here and overseas.

Now, in order to say a really warm thank you to new members, we’ve decided to include a very special CD in every welcome package – a CD which has won enormous praise from some of the biggest names in Welsh music, and which has been recognised as one of the best double CDs ever made in Welsh (not to mention songs in old Welsh, Breton and even one in English!).

I’ve been traveling round secondary and primary schools holding poetry workshops for over 8 years. Children’s ability to use words is vital for them to be able to take part in such workshops. By now, I’m revisiting some schools in Llŷn, Môn, Dyffryn Conwy and Ceredigion – schools that used to be natural Welsh-speaking schools. The drop in ability of the children’s Welsh in these areas, in such a short time, is horrifying. Myrddin ap Dafydd, Pwllheli

Some of the most important figures in Welsh music contributed to the CD, like Mike Stephens, Geraint Jarman, Heather Jones, Anweledig, Bob Delyn, Pep le Pew, Mim Twm Llai, Celt, MC Mabon, Epitaff, Estella, Siân James – the list goes on for what feels like forever! There are 37 songs altogether, including a very rare acoustic gem from the iconic late Tich Gwilym.

It’s still on sale in the shops for £15, but we want to offer you a copy for nothing, not even postage and packing, to say thank you for becoming a member. It will be in the post to you with your welcome pack the same day we receive your membership form.

Why am I so selfish?

It’s true – this is a deeply selfish letter.

How come?

Because of what I am longing to see – I’ve just recently married, and I want to be able to bring up my children to speak Welsh. I want them to be able find work and homes here in our community, for them to be there around me as I grow old. The idea that Catrin and my children might be forced to move away, that we might end up with grandchildren we only see once or twice a year, who can’t even speak Welsh to us – simply put, that idea breaks my heart.

And that, of course, is exactly what is happening to thousands of Welsh families every year.

I know that if you become a member of Cymuned, you and other people like you, we will end up with a strong enough voice to work successfully against the patterns that are destroying so much of what really matters to us all. Neither you nor I, on our own, can change the things that need changing – but if we work with each other, if we support Cymuned, we can win a better future for ourselves, our families and our country.

All you need to do is print and fill in the form available by clicking here and return it to us in the office: Cymuned, 64 Stryd Fawr, Pwllheli, Gwynedd LL53 5RR.

If you would rather pay online (which isn’t as good for us, because it means that PayPal swallow a percentage of every payment!), click here.

Please don’t delay before sending the form back – every day sees our communities being weakened further, every day sees another young person being forced to leave home and community to hunt for work.

This is happening all the time – NOW, while you’re reading this, someone is ordering a young Welsh lad ‘not to speak that ridiculous language’. This very moment, a young Welsh girl is having to say farewell to her family as she leaves to look for a job that will give her a chance to buy a house some day.

Help us to help them. Send this form back to us today. Your CD will be in the post a matter of minutes after the form reaches us.

Heartfelt thanks,
Aran Jones

P.S. Seriously, it will only take you 2 minutes to fill this form in. Could you please do it right now? The future of our communities is in your hands…