Events
Contents:
The 2022 Dinner and Fundraiser 1 Our president Mr Cennard Davies 2 Cronfa Glyndŵr Biennial Dinner, 14 October 2017 (Synopsis) 3. Cronfa Glyndŵr Biennial Dinner, 24 October 2015 (Synopsis) 4. Cronfa Glyndŵr Biennial Dinner, 12 October 2013 5. Article for Ninnau, the North American Welsh Magazine 6. An electronic copy of a marketing poster – one example Mererid Hopwood our guest speaker for the evening dinner 2022
Mererid and our Chairperson Helen Prosser
1. Mr Cennard Davies
Mr Cennard Davies our president
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An example of a pamphlet published by Mudiad Ysgolion Meithryn / Menter Iaith Rhondda Cynon Taf with a donation of £1000 presented by Cronfa Glyndwr
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Background
When the official channels of government ignore the just and reasonable wishes of the people, what can you do? Well, in the early 1400s, Owain Glyndŵr went to battle! In the early 1960s the battle was of a different nature. There was a growing demand throughout Wales for increased provision of education through the medium of Welsh – but the Local Education Authorities (LEAs) were reticent or dismissive in their response.
Out of pure frustration, in 1963, Cronfa Glyndŵr yr Ysgolion Cymraeg (The Glyndŵr Trust for Welsh Schools – and the name is significant) was set up with the specific aim of promoting and facilitating the establishment of Welsh-medium schools. The Trust was the brainchild of Trefor Morgan, a successful entrepreneur in the Insurance Industry, and his educationalist wife, Gwyneth.
One of the Trust’s first projects was the establishment of a Welsh-medium secondary boarding school at Bridgend, some twenty miles west of Cardiff. This was a very new concept for Welsh-medium education! But, as it was beginning to gain acceptance, Trefor Morgan sadly died at the untimely age of 56, the funds dried up and the establishment had to close.
However, the Trust then channelled its energy and funds into helping groups of parents to pressurise the LEAs into providing the education they were demanding for their children. The Trust doesn’t claim to be solely responsible for the phenomenal growth in the provision of Welsh-medium education since those early days, but its contribution has been significant.
The current situation
At a fund-raising dinner on 12 October 2013 to mark the Trust’s fiftieth anniversary, the guest speaker was Professor Richard Wyn Jones, Director of the Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University. In a powerful message he said that since the ‘No’ vote in the Referendum on Welsh Devolution in 1979, there had been a sea-change in the public attitude towards the Welsh language, with more than 80% now in favour of more being done to safeguard its future.
This is certainly reflected in the explosion in parental demand for Welsh-medium education in the last twenty years, especially in the more anglicised parts of Wales – the Northeast and the Southeast – areas where there is a ‘lost generation’ of Welsh speakers. Some of the LEAs are responding, albeit reluctantly, and several primary and secondary schools have been opened – but still the supply falls way below demand, and parents in all parts of the country still have to ‘do battle’ with the authorities. Early in 2014 the Welsh Government demanded that each LEA produced an official Strategic Plan for Welsh-medium Education. All these plans have been approved by the Government and are now in place. This is a significant step forward – but it remains to be seen how well they are implemented in the next few years!
The 2011 Census figures show that only 19% of the country’s population are able to speak Welsh – down 2% on the figures of 2001. This has sparked a Welsh Government-backed National Debate on the future of the Welsh language. Economic and social factors – employment, housing and population movement – are now acknowledged as being of vital importance to the survival of Welsh-speaking communities. However, one interesting and encouraging statistic is that of the 19% who are Welsh speakers, 30% are aged between 3 and 15! This would indicate that education has a vital role to play in future plans for the language – and this is why we believe that Cronfa Glyndŵr’s contribution is important.
There are other organisations working towards the same end, notably Mudiad Meithrin (Nursery Movement) and Rhieni Dros Addysg Gymraeg (Parents for Welsh-medium Education). Cronfa Glyndŵr works closely with these bodies to decide where to make donations.
Since 2012 a sum of more than £10,000 has been distributed to various recipients, with donations ranging from £150 to small nursery groups to help buy essential resources, to £900 towards marketing projects to promote Welsh-medium education in certain areas. Individual donations may be small but they are much appreciated and reports show that they do ‘make a difference’ – which is our motto.
More information about our activities is available on our website, www.cronfaglyndwr.cymru
Funds
The Trust is a registered charity and the original Trust fund, augmented by later donations and bequests, has been carefully invested in Stocks and Shares so as to yield an annual income. We also receive gifts and donations amounting to around £2,000 per annum. We try to ‘live within our means’ without delving too much into our ‘capital reserves’, but this is becoming more difficult as the country’s general economic situation is tightening.
Any donations are greatly appreciated and can be made via bank transactions using the following information.
Name of Charity: Cronfa Glyndwr yr Ysgolion Cymraeg
Name of recipient bank: Swansea Building Society:
IBAN: GB84 BARC 2084 4103 9568 73
Swift Code: BARCGB22
Reference: 32013079002
Diolch yn fawr am eich diddordeb yng ngwaith Cronfa Glyndŵr.
Mae sefyllfa addysg trwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg yn sicr wedi gwella yn ystod y blynyddoedd diwethaf ond mae’r hen ddihareb yn dal yn wir: ‘Nid da lle gellir gwell’. Rhaid dal ati i frwydro am ein hawliau, ac mae’n rhoi boddhad i ni feddwl bod ein cyfraniad at yr achos yn ‘gwneud gwahaniaeth’.