Features

An appreciation by Roy Johnston

My wife Janice and I have been taking the Planet for many years; it is our window into Welsh culture, my interest being small fringe post-imperial emergent nations, Janice's being that of the emigrant wishing to keep in touch. We feel it should be better known to the Welsh in Ireland.

It is an English-language publication which appears bi-monthly in pocket-size, ~120 pages at £3.75, annual sub £18. The editor is John Barnie, and the website address is http://www.planetmagazine.org.uk.

The August-September 2006 issue took a critical editorial look at the Hay Festival, which is the British publishing event annually located in Wales; it is dominated by London-based celeb best-sellers, and Welsh publishing is marginalised. It goes on to take a critical look at Cardiff in the European urban cultural context, in the context of a bid to host a casino.

Poet Nigel Jenkins takes a critical look at the art of Evan Walters (1893-1951) who won an Eisteddfod prize in 1926. Veteran journalist James Stewart, who specialised in the Welsh coal industry when it existed, opens a feature on the Chinese industry with a note on the 1966 Aberfan disaster, now upstaged by current Chinese experience.

There is a short story by Sian Melangell Dafydd, and an interview by Peter Reynolds of composer John Metcalf. Clare Potter takes a critical look at how the New Orleans disaster was handled. Michael Burnett unearths some uncomfortable background history of the Gain Valley in Snowdonia, current location of the Trawsfynydd nuclear power station, earlier abused as a British Army artillery range, under pure colonial conditions, with tenants evicted and their houses destroyed.

There is an interview of poet Patrick McGuinness by Giorgia Sensi; the link with Planet is the nationality of the former, who (despite the name) is Belgian, and the key theme is the role of bilingualism; four poems of his in English follow, with poems also from Damian Walford-Davies, Jeremy Hughes and Ian McDonald.

Ex-Labour ex-MP Tom Ellis writes on the origins of the Liberal Democrats; this closely argued political memoir however manages to avoid mention of the need for proportional representation in British politics. Richard Moore-Colyer, Aberystwyth Professor of Agrarian History, analyses the future of the hills and uplands, calling for a bottom-up approach to the politics and an enhanced role for the Assembly.

James Roberson writes on wild-life photography, and Gorwel Owen writes on the music of Llio Rhydderch and the Welsh harp. The issue ends with its usual dozen or so reviews of current publications of Welsh interest, many of them omnibus, 21 books in all being covered.

***

We have always found Planet good value for money, and can commend it to the Welsh abroad who want to keep in touch with current life in Wales. (We sometimes wonder is there any analogue covering the Irish scene in the same depth, such as to keep Irish emigrants in touch?).

The Welsh Chapel in Dublin

Amongst the papers of the Anglesey Monthly Meeting held in the county archives in Llangefni is a highly interesting collection dealing with the Welsh Chapel in Talbot Street, Dublin, the only Welsh chapel there’s been in Ireland, which came under the authority of the Anglesey circuit.

As can be imagined, this started as a religious outpost for the hundreds of Welsh sailors who visited the city, which held services in the various ships which happened to be in Dublin port.  It was felt that this arrangement was not sufficient, and a chapel was built in Talbot Street in 1838, not far from the centre of the city.  With the opening of the chapel, the congregation was extended to include Welsh people who worked in the city itself.  Despite this, the maritime influence remained strong.  The gallery was called the “quarter deck” and only sailors were permitted to sit there.  On the ground floor of the chapel, or the “main-deck” as it was called, men sat on the “starboard” (the right-hand side) and women on the “port side” (the left-hand side).   There were also some unexpected items there, such as spittoons near some of the men’s pews, and at the beginning smoking was permitted.

The chapel was an island of Welshness in the middle of Dublin, to the surprise and admiration of the Irish, as Ernest Blythe, the finance minister of the Irish government, explained in 1951:

When I joined the Gaelic League and began to learn Irish, one of my fellow members told me, almost with bated breath, that the Welsh community in Dublin had its own church in which services were conducted in Welsh.  I went there one Sunday morning to revel in the sound of a language closely related to Irish.  That little Welsh-speaking congregation, maintaining its individuality in a foreign city, made a profound impression on me.

However, there was another side to this, given the troubled history of Ireland.  Although members of the chapel were never attacked, there was animosity towards Protestants in Parnell’s day, in particular after the failure to achieve self-government, the common feeling among the Irish being that opposition from Protestants was one of the reasons for the failure.  During this period, stones were thrown at the chapel, causing windows to be broken.  One member was so afraid that he came to the service with a revolver in his pocket.   In the same way, the Easter rebellion in 1916 caused difficulties, and it was necessary to close the chapel for over a week because of the fighting.   During the rebellion, so it’s said, the minister John Lewis received a bullet through his hat brim.

Although going through troubled times, the chapel kept going, even though the number of members became fewer each year.   In December 1939 the monthly meeting in Llangefni decided to close the chapel for the duration of the war, because of the difficulties involved in ministers crossing the sea for the services.  In August 1944 it was reported in the monthly meeting in Cefn Bach that the chapel had been sold, and that was the end of the only chapel of the Calvinistic Methodists that has existed in Ireland.

The chapel building still stands in Talbot Street.   For a period it was a shoe shop, then a snooker hall.  Perhaps it would be an idea to erect a plaque on the building to commemorate its origins.  What is the opinion of Draig Werdd members about this?

You may also be interested to know that Draig Werdd member Howell Evans, who recently celebrated his 95^th birthday, is a former member of the chapel.  If you have any questions you’d like to put to Howell about the chapel and its history, email us by clicking here. 

(For more information, see “Wrth Angor yn Nulyn”, by Huw Llywelyn Williams).

Welsh Language Support for Office 2003

Microsoft has just released Welsh language support for Office 2003.  This can be downloaded from the web via the following link:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=CCF199BC-C987-48F5-9707-DC6C7D0E35D0&displaylang=cy 

Click here to view the official Microsoft press release for this announcement.

TV Reception in the Irish Republic

As from July 10^th, 2003, it is now possible to receive BBC1 Wales and BBC2 Wales via Sky digital satellite in Ireland.   All other BBC digital TV & radio services are also available free of charge.   S4C has been available for some time in Ireland via Sky digital (channel 135).  It is also possible to receive ITV1 Wales via Sky Digital.

In order to receive these programmes, you will need a Sky digital satellite receiver and decoder (digibox).  No Sky viewing card is required in order to view the above programmes.  So if you already have Sky digital equipment installed, then follow the instructions given below in order to tune in to BBC Wales.  

If you don't have Sky digital equipment installed, but are interested in receiving these programmes, you will need to install a digital satellite dish and digibox.  You don't need a Sky contract to do this, but will have to pay for the equipment and its installation.  Contact a local satellite TV supplier for costs. 

Alternatively, Sky have offers where you get the equipment free of charge and just pay for the installation.  These offers generally require that you take out a Sky contract for a 12 month period.   However, you can cancel the contract at any time after the end of the 12 months.  If you do that, you will still be able to receive all the BBC channels + S4C + some other free-to-air channels.

Note that without a Sky contract, you will not be able to receive RTE1, Network 2, TV3 or TG4 digital broadcasts.   In any case, you will not be able to receive Channel 4 via digital satellite, whether you have a Sky contract or not. 

For those of you who currently have Sky digital installed, and want to tune in to BBC1 & BBC2 Wales or to ITV1 Wales, here's what you need to do:

To locate and store the channels:

·          Go the "Services" menu

·          Choose option 4: "System setup"

·          Choose option 4: "Add channels:

·         For BBC channels, enter the following values:
Frequency: 10.802
Polarisation: H
Symbol Rate: 22
FEC:  5/6

For ITV1 Wales, enter the following values:
Frequency: 10.832
Polarisation: H
Symbol Rate: 22
FEC:  5/6

·          Select "Find channels"

·          You should then get a list of channels which can be received on this frequency.  For the first set of values this list will include BBC1 Wales (BBC ONE Wa), BBC2 Wales (BBC 2W) and also BBC Radio Wales (BBC R Wales).   For the second set of values entered above, the list will include ITV1 Wales. Move to the desired channel and select it by pressing the yellow button.

·          When all channels have been selected, press yellow to store the channels.

·          Press Select when complete.

To view the new channels:

·          Go to the "Services" menu

·          Choose option 6: "Other channels"

·          A list of the stored additional channels will be displayed.  Just select the channel you wish to view.

The additional BBC channels will not be available via the Electronic Program Guide (EPG) for the time being, so you will need to access them via the "Other channels" options, as described above.  It is not known at the moment whether they will eventually be available to viewers in Ireland via the EPG.   Information from the BBC website states that when viewing without a Sky viewing card, channels 101 & 102 on the EPG will contain BBC1 London and BBC2 England.  Other BBC channels will become available via the EPG in due course.  Again, it is unclear whether this will be the case for viewers in Ireland. 

If you have any experiences of using Sky digital in Ireland to access these additional channels, send us an email and we can share the information with other Draig Werdd members.