Every year, Wales hosts the largest festival of music and poetry in Europe. The Eisteddfod Genedlaethol takes place each August and celebrates the very best of Welsh culture through song, dance, music and the spoken word. I’ve written about it a bit before in the newsletter. Perhaps the most important part of the whole event is the chairing of the bard, the poet. To be awarded the chair, is to receive the highest prize and honour in Welsh language writing. As part of the whole ceremony, the arch-druid asks, “Ar oes heddwch?” “Is there peace?”, to which the congregation answer “Heddwch” “(There is) peace”. This year, the Eisteddfod was back in person with celebrations taking place across the week in Tregaron. The chair this year went to Llyr Gwyn Lewis with his poem Traeth.
I didn’t get to go this year but hopefully I’ll be there next year – possibly competing in the choir competition. I may not have got to Tregaron, but I have just been to Belgium. I was hoping during my few days there to get to Ypres to visit the Artillery Wood Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery. There, 1,307 fallen soldiers from the First World War are buried or commemorated. Among them is Ellis Humphrey Evans.
Ellis was born and grew up on his family’s farm in Trawsfynydd in Merionydd. Like many farmers, they had an important role in providing food for the community and beyond, especially when war arrived in 1914. In 1916, the family were told they had to send at least one of their sons to fight. Ellis volunteered to join the Royal Welsh Fusiliers – to spare his younger brother having to go to the front.
He'd been writing for some time under the pseudonym Hedd Wyn and had started a poem at home called Yr Arwr (The Hero). He left it at home and so started writing it again when back in Flanders. He finished it and posted it to Wales as his entry to the Eisteddfod competition.
On the first day of the Third Battle of Ypres, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, Ellis was fatally wounded and died along with many others. Simon Jones from same regiment, recalled the moment:
“We started over Canal Bank at Ypres, and he was killed halfway across Pilckem...I can say that it was a nosecap shell in his stomach that killed him. You could tell that. You couldn't stay with him – you had to keep going, you see.”
Five weeks later, the Eisteddfod took place on 6 September in Birkenhead, Liverpool (often jokingly referred to as the capital of North Wales). The winner of the chair was announced, and no one stood up to claim the work or prize. The presiding officer realised it was a poem by Hedd Wyn and announced that he had been killed in battle in Belgium. For the only time in Eisteddfod history, a black cloth was draped over the chair and the Birkenhead Eisteddfod of 1917 became known as the “Eisteddfod of the Black Chair”.
You can visit Ellis’s family home Yr Ysgwrn, which is now a museum and houses the chair that he posthumously won. If you want to know more about the story, there is a film called Hedd Wyn that was released in 1992 – the first Welsh language film to be nominated for an Academy Award.
The Recipe
Tarta de crema galesa – Patagonian Welsh cream tart
We spoke about Welsh Patagonia last year in the newsletter. In that instance, we made Torta Negra Galesa, a rich fruit cake that was made to last and provide energy. This recipe is all about using the surplus dairy products that the settlers had thanks to their savvy farming knowledge.
Ingredients (serves 12)
250g plain flour
125g butter
Pinch of salt
80g caster sugar
3 egg yolks
Drop of milk
300ml double cream
3 egg whites
100g caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp cornflour
Handful of sultanas (or currents/raisins etc)
Nutmeg for dusting
Method
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 2/300°F/150°C.
Firstly, make the pasty case by rubbing together the flour and butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Tip in the salt and caster sugar and mix.
Add your three egg yolks and mix until it starts to come together. You’ll likely need a splash of milk to get it to fully bind together. Once it’s formed a ball, pop it in the fridge while you make the filling.
In a large bowl or jug, whisk together the cream, egg whites, vanilla extract and caster sugar. Mix the corn flour with a little water to dissolve and add this to the mix and stir.
Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out big enough to line a tart tin. Push it into the tin and make sure there are no holes. You should have a little bit of excess pastry, so you can patch up any holes. Trim off any excess
Gently fill the pastry case with the cream mixture. Sprinkle in the sultanas at random and dust the top with nutmeg.
Bake gently in the oven for about 40-45 minutes until it’s only got a small wobble to it when you gently shake the tin.
Leave to cool and then set in the fridge before slicing.
If you try the recipe out, don’t forget to tag any photos with #mywelshkitchen.
The Playlist
To me, cooking and music go hand in hand, whether that’s singing at the top of your voice using a wooden spoon as a microphone while waiting for pasta to boil, or dancing around with the oven gloves on as the oven timer counts down. Here are this week’s ideas for your Welsh Kitchen playlist.
First up we have a bit of a throwback to the fantastic actor Windsor Davies, who while being born in Canning Town in London to Welsh parents, moved to Bridgend at the age of 10. Best known for playing Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum, he always used his Welsh accent to great (often hilarious) success. An interesting fact I learnt recently is that he got married at the Borough Welsh Chapel in London. This song reached number one in the UK charts in 1975 with his singing partner and fellow cast member, Don Estelle. Secondly, we have the soulful sounds of Nia Wyn from Llandudno in North Wales, who channels beautiful bluesy sounds with her voice and style.
Whispering Grass by Windsor Davies and Don Estelle
I Ain’t Finished Yet by Nia Wyn
The Pantry
Good food is nothing without good ingredients and thankfully there are plenty of fantastic Welsh products on the market. Here is where you’ll find recommendations to stock up your cupboard, fridge or fruit bowl, or a really great place for food.
Perthyn
I recently got sent a bottle of Perthyn, a low alcohol spirit – it has an ABV is 10%. It’s the brainchild of Welsh rugby royalty, Shane Williams, James Hook, Lee Byrne, and Mike Phillips, and is made at the Cardiff Distillery, just a rugby-tackle away from the Principality Stadium. I only ever recommend products that I like, or think are worth telling you about regardless of whether I get gifted them. I tried this in the style of a gin and tonic and while I enjoyed it, it was very floral for my tastes, but I know that it would be right up the street of some of my friends. I think it’s ripe for being mixed in a cocktail, where there are more elements and you can use (and tame) that wonderful floral note. A good one to have in the drinks cabinet.