Cymdeithas yr Iaith - Conference and Welsh Office Demo
From the collection of
Established in 2001, the National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive holds an unrivalled collection of films, TV and radio broadcasts, video tapes and sound recordings relating to Wales and the Welsh, from 1898 to the present day. The collection spans multiples formats and genres, both professional and amateur.
Cymdeithas yr Iaith - Conference and Welsh Office Demo
Spray paint and solidarity are part of the toolkit in this year's Welsh Language Society campaign and conference.
Footage in two parts: the first being part of a Cymdeithas yr Iaith (Welsh Language Society) conference - with addresses in Welsh by speakers including Sian Howys, Dafydd Orwig and Gwynfor Evans (former MP for Carmarthen and Plaid Cymru President for 36 years), who began a fast as part of campaign for 4th TV channel in Wales, setting in motion a U-Turn on Thatcher's government's original decision not to go ahead with the channel as planned.
The second part of the footage (from 00:10:15) shows a CYI demo, with supporters marching on the Welsh Office calling for adequate funding for a body to oversee Welsh language planning. Demonstrators carry banners; some spray paint on Welsh Office walls; there is strong police presence.
The Welsh language - Cymraeg - is an endangered tongue that survives against all odds, thanks to multiple campaigns and its daily speakers.
Welsh is one of the oldest languages in Europe, spoken today by over 800,000 people. It has survived attempts to snuff it out, for example with the use in Victorian schools of the infamous 'Welsh not', and is still the butt of many a tired cliché and ignorant jokes.
But it has many less well-known claims to fame - such as the fact that Wales was one of the first countries to create laws using its own language - and in 2020 singer and language campaigner Dafydd Iwan's rousing hit 'Yma o Hyd' (Still Here) reached number one in the UK iTunes chart, and has since been adopted by the Welsh national football team and its 'red wall' of fans as its anthem.
This collection includes works both in and about the Welsh language, the tone varying from serious and sobering to witty and light-hearted. Topics range from speakers' feelings about the state of their mother tongue (we hear from children and young people, writers and artists), to the challenges and frustrations of keeping a fragile language alive in the shadow of a dominant, global one.
14 videos in this collection
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Ray Gravell talks to David Parry-Jones
Mynyddygarreg
2000
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Meredydd Evans talks to David Parry-Jones
Blaenau Ffestiniog
2003
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John Roberts Williams talks to Gwyn Llewelyn
2002
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Lwmp o Jaman!
Caernarfon
2000
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Fosia's Story
Cardiff/Caerdydd
2000
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Deg Milltir o'r Ffin
Mold/Yr Wyddgrug
2001
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Y Wyddor Animeiddiedig
2002
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Cymdeithas yr Iaith - Part 1
1990
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Cymdeithas yr Iaith - Part 2
1990
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Cymdeithas yr Iaith - Dewi Pws yn Ffonio
1990
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Cymdeithas yr Iaith - Conference and Welsh Office Demo