by Angharad Evans, Welsh Language Communications Officer

Things will get better is now one of those iconic expressions, and one that has kept so many of us going through the long pandemic. BUT, at long last, we can look forward to the important events of our agricultural calendar, which provides us with an opportunity to start socialising again with everyone. Our house is now brimming with excitement for the summer shows.

What better way to start the show season than to hold a spectacular Nefyn show at the beginning of May. The crowds flocked back to Botacho Wyn fields for a wonderful day of competing and socialising. But arranging such a successful show is quite a task! Behind the scene, there is a lot of thorough organizing happening, and Eirian Lloyd Hughes, FUW Insurance Services Ltd Account Executive in Dolgellau knows this better than anyone, as she is the General Secretary of Nefyn Show.

After a busy show, Cornel Clecs had the opportunity to congratulate Eirian and the team on putting on a memorable show and to ask her about how difficult it was to get back into the swing of things after two years without a show due to Covid's restrictions? What were the biggest difficulties?

Eirian said: "It was a decision made towards the end of January when the restrictions seemed to be easing, and it was a bit risky at the time as things were not very clear, but everyone agreed unanimously to resume with the organizing work.  We only had three months to do everything instead of the usual six months, but things came together amazingly well in the end.

"The committee, although small in number, is extremely enthusiastic and we have volunteers who are more than happy to help out on the field before and during the show. Unfortunately, it was not possible to have a poultry section this year because of avian influenza and we did miss this section. We noticed that the cost of everything had increased since our last show in 2019 and as we had made a loss in 2020 because the show was organised before the first lockdown, this show needed to pay its way, and luckily, it did.”

Although Tecwyn y Tractor Bach Coch was nowhere to be seen, a crowd of people of all ages gathered at the Mona Showground on Saturday April 9th ​​to enjoy a wonderful day of Welsh music at the Ukraine gig, organised by Bryn Fôn, LaBelaBel, Arwel Hughes (MAD) and assisted by the Anglesey Show Committee and Anglesey Young Farmers.

Although the afternoon started with a cold wind, the crowd soon warmed up with the first band of the day, Dienw. It was followed by all kinds of music, with familiar and lively tunes by the Llareggub Brass Band, lots of dancing and singing with Bwncath and Bryn Fôn ending a memorable day.

Union President Glyn Roberts, his wife Eleri and Tom Jones, Chairman of FUW Insurance Services thoroughly enjoyed at the pavilion and the Union was delighted to co-sponsor the event and to contribute to such an important and worthy cause.

by Angharad Evans, Welsh Language Communications Officer 

Do you know where Llain Uchaf, Cae Bach, Banc, Cae Pant Bach and Cae Ffynnon are? You probably don't know the answer to that question, because these are the names of some of our fields here on the farm.

They don’t mean anything to anyone else, but to us these names are a natural part of the farm’s daily routine and conversation. Each small parcel of land has a specific name and meaning behind it. For example, cae Ffynnon - the answer is probably simple ... there is of course a water well at the bottom of that field. What about Llain Isaf and Llain Uchaf? The answer here is also simple, isn’t it?! Llain means a strip of land, so these fields are two long, thin strips of land that run parallel with the river running from the mountain down to the sea past the bottom of our farm lane.

A few years ago, I took ten minutes to record the field names on the Single Payment Form. There were two reasons for this. Firstly, it is now easier to tackle the form by seeing specific field names rather than a set of letters and numbers. Secondly, those names are now down on paper, and can be passed on to the next generation, just as the names were passed on to this generation.

A special evening bringing local produce and talent together was held on Friday, 25th March – with a strong flavour of Ceredigion!

The event was held to mark the success of Alaw James and Megan Williams of Lledrod YFC, who won a culinary competition at the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society Winter Fair.

The competition was launched as a result of a partnership between Cywain, a Menter a Busnes project that supports the development of Welsh food and drink businesses, and Wales Young Farmers Federation (YFC).

The entrants were tasked with creating a two-course menu inspired by Welsh produce. The dishes comprised a main course and either a starter or a dessert and included ingredients from (at least) two Welsh food and drink producers featured on the Cywain Producers’ Map (cywain.cymru).

Alaw and Megan’s idea came to fruition at Y Ffarmers, Llanfihangel-y-Creuddyn thanks to Caitlin Morse and Lewis Johnston and their team, who served their mouth-watering take on the winning menu.

by Llinos Angharad Owen, Regional Partners and Communication Manager for Tir Dewi (North Wales)

Attending any ceremony is an honour but to receive an invitation to attend an awards ceremony by the High Sheriff of Gwynedd Mr Gwyn Peredur Owen was a tremendous privilege. These Ceremonies are held annually by the High Sheriff as part of the High Sheriff's Annual Tackling Crime Awards. There were three award categories namely the High Sheriff Community Service Awards, the National Tackling Crime Awards and the High Sheriff's Personal Awards.

It was a privilege and an honour to receive the High Sheriff's Community Services award for the work of the Tir Dewi charity. Tir Dewi received the award in recognition of the support given to farmers and the farming community.

The support Tir Dewi offers is free and entirely confidential. The support that is provided can vary from case to case depending on what support you require. You may be feeling lonely and isolated and would like someone to talk to, worried about an upcoming inspection, wanting support with recording animal movement, financial difficulties, suffering following a bereavement or illness, worried about a family member or wanting support with succession planning. Tir Dewi volunteers support farmers who are suffering with multiple problems which have escalated to such a degree that they become overwhelmed, and this support may last for months. In other cases, the farmer may be worried about one issue that can be resolved after one or two phone calls.

Many farmers are too proud to ask for support and feel ashamed and embarrassed and often feel like a failure because things go wrong even though they are not to blame. We all go through periods in our lives when life gets tough and things can easily get out of control. You are not alone!

by Angharad Evans, Welsh Language Communications Officer

It would not be possible to write Cornel Clecs this month without mentioning Dai Llanilar. As a child growing up in the 80s, watching Cefn Gwlad on S4C would be the golden half hour every week. We’d make sure supper was done and eaten, and look out if the phone rang during Cefn Gwlad, it would be left to ring!

One of the last times I saw Dai was in a car park in Aberystwyth before the Covid pandemic. He was sitting in the Discovery waiting for Olwen to return from shopping, and although I hadn't seen him for a while beforehand, you would never had known this, as the conversation was as fresh as if we had seen each other the day before.

One of Dai's most cherished qualities was that he would always ask about the family, and for a moment you would forget that you were talking to one of the greatest Welsh broadcasters. Thank you Dai for being everybody’s friend, and for ensuring that farming and the countryside would always be in the limelight, a true champion of the countryside, there will only ever be one Dai Llanilar.

It is interesting to read Elin Jones Ceredigion MS's tribute to Dai on page 4 as she refers to the way in which Dai would argue the farmer's case, especially the younger generation, and Dai took great pride in the achievements of young people.

On the same weekend that Dai passed away, the Cân i Gymru competition was held, and fittingly this year’s winner was a farmer’s son from Montgomeryshire.

The proverb ‘Tapping persistently breaks the stone’ is certainly true for Rhydian Meilir Pughe from Cemaes, having competed and shortlisted for the competition in 2012, 2019 and 2020.  But 2022 was Rhydian's year with his song ‘Mae Yna Le’, which was performed on the night by Ryland Teifi.