on friday i had a gig in swansea at Hoopers on oystermouth road, only about ten people in – similar in numbers to the gig the night before in Cardiff – but it went great. improvised a gag about a microphone that was a member of a satanic cult. (because it had a leather hood on). before i went down swansea i did an unusual event. a night of remembrance, in welsh, for dewi pws. as i’m sure i’ve mentioned Pws was a genius of a song writer, and also a talented comedian and actor. he worked solely in the welsh language, although he is also known for having appeared in the film Grand Slam.

it was a little nerve racking for me as the setting was the sombre Capel y Nant in clydach, a chapel. ,my bit was at the start, in theory all i had to do was read excerpts from dewi’s autobiog, but i threw in my personal recollections of the man, having met him once ( well twice actually but once during a work environment). I felt it important to mention the memory of having opened a welsh language text book when i was in school to find dewi’s poem Ti (which means You), which shocked me into a different perception of what welsh language poetry could be at the time, More spike milligan than TH Parry Williams. the guy was a legend. but he could be politically incorrect and didn’t care about that.

I also watched the 40 minute film dewi starred in, called Moc Hawddamor, with some scenes set in Gwrhyd Chapel. It was great to see it, and such a funny – well amusing – story. A man, a miner, who starts getting obsessed with composing welsh poetry and taking part in local eisteddfods. of course, his every day life and society IS welsh, and welsh speaking. His slightly nagging, but patient, wife gets annoyed by all this poets bullshit as she wants more work to be done around the house. in order to bring him around she devises a plan, and she herself starts composing things for the local eisteddfods, and winning ! Unlike her husband who wins chairs for long poems in strict metre (cywydd and awdl) she wins prizes for composing ‘ the best sentence’. He becomes so embarrassed at her success that he packs it in.

Great to see some of Islwyn Williams’ work transposed to the screen. A local writer who wrote in the cwmtawe dialect. He dies young. But i still recall with fondness (oh yes because i like fondues) playing wil thomas in the school production of Cap Wil Tomos. with Steffan Rhodri….

the ironic, tragic, thing about Moc Hawddamor is there is no welsh language – let alone welsh poetry – being spoken today in those same little terraced houses…The social dymanic would make for a totally different drama today.