Wales in the world: London Welsh
Quick rice pudding recipe
Yesterday, I got to sing with five other members of Côr Y Boro. It was a joyous feeling for many reasons, not least because we haven’t been able to sing together for over a year, plus the fact that we were surprising some very dear friend by serenading them as they left the town hall following their wedding. Even though it was only a verse and two choruses of Calon Lân, it made us all very emotional. Perhaps because of the time and the occasion, but for me it was also that these people are my family in London. They are my London Welsh friends.
Surprisingly, I don’t meet a lot of Welsh people in London – you have to seek them out – although everyone seems to have a Welsh granny, who they used to visit in the summer and who made the best Welsh cakes. But arriving and living in London from Wales can be isolating for many. In a city full of life and people, finding someone with whom you share experience, history, culture and language can be quite difficult, and if you are feeling the pinch of the old hiraeth (nostalgic yearning for your home), it’s these familiarities that you need. It’s the reason I sought out the choir several years ago. The moment I walked through the Borough Welsh Congregational Chapel doors I felt transported home, with accents and turns of phrase so familiar that I thought I’d stumbled upon some sort of strange underground Welsh cult.
Of course, there have been Welsh people in London for centuries, but it’s really since the middle of the 19th Century that the Welsh population started to grow and established a community. It began with the drovers, walking their cattle (Welsh Blacks) on foot from Wales to London for sale at fairs and markets. With the introduction of the railways, the two-month drover journey was cut to a single day meaning many drovers instead turned their hand to milk.
It’s strange to think of cows being kept in Central London, but cowsheds were present all over the city. Milk also came from Wales (usually Cardiganshire but not exclusively) by train leading to the creation of Express Dairies. Most of London’s dairies at one time had Welsh names above the door – and with the 30s Depression, many people were sent or came from Wales to join extended family in London’s milk trade.
Interestingly, as Megan Hayes points out in her book Cows, Cobs & Corner Shops, both at the turn of the 20th Century and during and following the Second World War, when Jewish communities became established in East London, the Welsh dairymen ensured that milk was kosher, inviting the local Rabbi to watch the cows being milked etc. At least one milkman, William Jones of Stepney, spoke Yiddish to his customers and Welsh to his children – in the English capital.
While nearly all signs of these corner shops have disappeared, there are still other signs of a Welsh community. The Exiles (London Welsh RFC) still play out of Old Deer Park in Richmond, with possibly one of the best rugby alumni registers going thanks to the likes of John Dawes, JPR Williams, Gerald Davies and Mervyn Davies. There are several Welsh chapels in the city – although once there were many more – including the Jewin, Eastcastle Street and the Borough. If you walk down Charing Cross Road, on the corner of Shaftesbury Avenue you’ll spot a church-like building. This was once a prominent Welsh chapel where former Prime Minister Lloyd George used to preach. It has the most wonderful vaulted domed roof. Many Londoners will remember it as a nightclub – one of its many guises since it stopped being a chapel. Here’s a few members of the Borough Welsh Choir performing in the building – the acoustics are still incredible!
Then of course, there is the London Welsh Centre, whose bar some might say is more of the community’s spiritual home than the chapels. I’m not quite sure how to describe the feeling of going into the Welsh Centre on Gray’s Inn Road. It’s a mix of exhilaration, comfort, security, relaxation and a big warm hug all in one. It’s home to many events and no fewer than four choirs, including the famous London Welsh Male Voice. The Centre also holds Welsh classes and it’s the only place to be on rugby match day, when the singing is something to behold.
Talking of singing, did you know that back in the day (although until as recently as the 1960s), when a Welsh person died and they wanted their body buried in Wales, it would be sent on the train from Paddington or Euston? Up to 300 people from the chapels and community would congregate on the platform and sing as the train pulled out of the station in what must have been one of the most moving tributes to the life of a member of the London Welsh community. And back during the chapels’ height, it was not uncommon for several hundred people to congregate on the corner of Hyde Park of a Sunday afternoon and sing hymns and songs, before venturing to any of the Welsh cafes dotted around Oxford Street.
The London Welsh community has always had a natural ebb and flow to the homeland and back again, and today that is no different. It’s a journey and story of which I am so honoured to be a part. Diolch yn fawr iawn to all of my London Welsh family.
The Recipe
Quick Rice Pudding Recipe
Rice pudding is one of those dishes that once you’ve made it yourself, you can never go back to having it from a tin. There’s something too sweet about the tinned stuff and the rice is just mush rather than grains. But homemade rice pudding does throw up one contentious issue – the skin. It’s a love it or loathe it situation, for which the only correct answer is to ditch it. No surprises for guessing I’m a skin loather. The traditional way of cooking rice pudding in Wales is in a greased ovenproof dish in a low oven, cooking the rice slightly in water first before adding the sugar, full-fat milk, nutmeg, more butter and a pinch of salt, and letting it happily bubble away for two hours. My recipe below is a little different, and one I find much easier (and less calorific) and is based on a recipe by Brian Turner.
Ingredients (serves 2-4)
60g risotto rice
600ml milk (I used semi-skimmed (half-fat) as it’s what I already have in the fridge but you could use full-fat whole milk for a creamier taste)
1 bay leaf
50g caster sugar
Pinch of salt
20g butter
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg or freshly grated nutmeg to taste
Method
In a saucepan, heat the rice and milk until boiling – stirring all the time – then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. It will look like there’s too much milk but believe me on this one.
Add the bay leaf and sugar, stir and gently simmer away until the rice is cooked –around 30 minutes – stirring frequently.
Remove from the heat and add the butter and nutmeg. You can serve it at this point if you don’t like the skin, in which case allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving as it’ll thicken up slightly.
If you do want the dreaded skin, tip the contents of the saucepan into an ovenproof dish and pop under a hot grill until brown and bubbling.
There are a few old Welsh recipes that add dried fruit as it’s cooking, and many people love it with a big swirl of jam.
If you try it 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.
This week is a London Welsh concert of musical talent, starting with the aforementioned London Welsh Male Voice Choir. Then it’s a trip to the Theatreland with the incredible Welsh of the West End – all Welsh theatre stars in London, who have kept me hugely entertained over lockdown with their incredible renditions. Here are three of their songs, but all their videos are worth a watch. Finally, it’s a curious, made-up song from Côr Y Boro that they performed at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 2019 – you might even spot me in there if you look closely!
London Welsh Male Voice Choir
Welsh of the West End
Côr Y Boro
The Pantry
There’s no pantry entry this week, but if you still feel like parting with your cash, I have an idea. The London Welsh Centre is actually a charity and receives no government funding. I’m sure they would very much appreciate any donations after what has been the toughest year for all hospitality venues.