| Page Views: 20,689 Last Visit to Barry: 1960 | CYMRU AM BYTH by breughel - last update: Apr 23, 2007 |
MY WELSH FRIENDS OF BARRY This page is dedicated to the Welsh friends of Barry and surroundings, to the nice lass and the good lads who were with me in the summer of 1960 at the laboratories of the, in that time, PVC chemical plant.
You taught me to eat fish and ships (packed in a news paper with a good smell of printing ink), to drink warm and flat beer (I went over to Mackesons stout, a sweet type, closer to the Belgian dark beers) and to sing - indecent - student songs.
And you, dear lass, taught me all the nice English words to translate the verb "aimer". That’s the best way to learn English, the purpose of my stay in Glamorgan.
Just one problem; I came back from Cymru with a Welsh accent and souvenirs which made me feel nostalgic 46 years later when I discovered there were VT member pages on Barry.
The Red Dragon of Wales (y ddraig goch), was probably introduced into Britain by the Roman legions. Medieval Welsh poets often compared their leaders to dragons in poems praising their bravery.
Cymru am Byth.
It seems that my friendly feelings for the Welsh are due to the fact that I saw the liberation of Brussels on Sept 4, 1944 by the Welsh Guards (ref. my page on the history of Belgium). The first friendly soldiers I saw were Welsh!
Psychologists who would like to study this phenomenon on me are welcome. |
| Welsh Guards in Ypres 21.04.2007 |
|  | Meeting Welsh Guards in Ieper-Ypres, West-Flanders On Saturday 21/04/07 we had a VT member meeting in Ieper with visits to the WW I museum and memorials.
In the evening at the traditional "Last Post" ceremony at the Menin Gate memorial there was a group of what we first taught to be British students visiting the Flanders Fields. When these young men, in civilian suit with a bleu and red tie, started moving on a so typical British drill tempo, I understood they were military.
After the "Last Post" ceremony I questioned them and they appeared to be recruits of the Welsh Guards. This is the regiment that liberated Brussels on September 3th 1944.
"Meanwhile, the 1st and 2nd Battalion formed part of the Guards Armoured Division - the 1st Battalion as infantry and the 2nd Battalion as an Armoured Battalion. The two Battalions working together were the first troops to re-enter Brussels on 3 September 1944 after an advance of 100 miles in one day, in what was described as an armoured dash unequalled for speed in this or any other war".
I told the recruits that one of their ancestors, on a Cromwell tank, gave me my first chewing gum.
We made a photo with their lieutenant wearing the Welsh leek badge on his kepi.
I hope he was glad having met in Ieper an old fan of his regiment. |
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 Comments for breughel about Barry | | | | |
hunterV Wed Jul 22, 2009 11:48 UTC
Wow, great memories of that place! | Nemorino Sat Nov 22, 2008 18:17 UTC
Nice tip about the pebbles -- and I enjoyed reading your moving intro page and looking at the historic photos in your travelogue. | CathL Sun May 4, 2008 15:42 UTC
What a nice page...glad you have good memories..visit again soon | ranger49 Sat Feb 2, 2008 12:44 UTC
Haven't been to Barry Beach since the '60's with my children. They liked the funfair there too. Nice memories -thanks. |
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