17/10/2025
NEWSLETTER
No 40, SEPTEMBER 2025
WELSH SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN TASMANIA
__________________________________________________________________________ Spring has arrived with its four seasons in one day. It is beautiful to see the spring blooms and lambs in the fields. Over the last 6 months we have had the opportunity to catch-up on more than one occasion and have listed some of the highlights:
Friday 11 April – Welsh Film at Bridgewater Library – the film screening of “Save the Cinema” based on a true story. For those of you who were unable to attend - here is a little trailer:
Liz Evans, a hairdresser and leader of a youth theatre in Carmarthen, Southwest Wales, began a campaign in 1993 to save the Lyric theatre from demolition. She did everything in her power to keep it open. Her final idea, to attract younger people by screening the new Jurassic Park movie, led to a conversation with Steven Spielberg and securing a special premiere.”
The campaign’s efforts, including persuading Speilberg to host a premiere of Jurassic Park at the Lyric in 1993, successfully stopped plans for a shopping centre and ultimately secured the building’s future. It continues to operate as a performance venue and a community resource.
Friday 9th May - Coffee morning was at Willie Smith’s Apple shed in the beautiful Huon. I think we all indulged in the home-made apple pie, perfect with the coffee. A good place to return to.
Friday 25 June. - Ausmas lunch– was held at the Black Buffalo. All went well. The senior citizens offer still applied.
Thursday 31 July – Coffee morning was at Rivulet Café, South Hobart. Good attendance
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NEWSLETTER
No 40, SEPTEMBER 2025
WELSH SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN TASMANIA
NEWS FROM WALES
One hundred years ago, a boy from Pontrhydyfen, Neath Port Talbot was born with a voice that would one day echo across the stages and screens of the world.
Richard Burton’s legacy is being celebrated with special events across Wales to mark the centenary of the birth of the Welsh Icon. It focuses on the county of Neath Port Talbot where the actor was born and raised. He passed away suddenly in 1984 aged 58.
Matthew Rhys will play Richard Burton in a one-man show with the Welsh National Theatre
One of Wales most renowned actors, Emmy Award winner
Mathew Rhys, who grew up in Cardiff but now lives in New York, is set to return to the Welsh stage this November for the first time in twenty years to raise funds for the Welsh National Theatre.
Rhys said, “with 2025 being both Burton’s centenary year and the first year of the new Welsh National Theatre, it felt right to return to the Welsh stage and to support his friend, Michael Sheen”.
Rhys , who plays Nile Jarvis in Netflix’s ‘The Beast To Me’, will play Richard Burton in a one-man play with the Welsh National Theatre.
The show ‘Playing Burton’ captures the sweep of Burton’s extraordinary life, from a childhood in an impoverished mining
NEWSLETTER
No 40, SEPTEMBER 2025
WELSH SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN TASMANIA
community of the South Wales Valleys to the dazzling heights of Broadway and Hollywood. His passionate love affair with Liz Taylor and his very public struggle with alcoholism, the play is a soulful exploration of fame, ambition and identity.
The production ‘Playing Burton’ is a fundraising event for
Michael Sheen’s new Welsh National Theatre. As I mentioned in my last Newsletter, Michael Sheen setup and funded the new Welsh National Theatre last year. This was due to a 1.6-million-pound funding cut by the Arts Council Wales which forced the Theatre to close.
Rhys will be playing in a series of shows across Wales, with a special performance in Bethel Chapel café in Burton’s birthplace Pontrhydyfen in Neath Port Talbot to close the centenary celebrations.
I enjoyed watching the recent film “Mr Burton” at the State cinema. The film has a DVD release date of November 5th this year and I am hoping to have it available for our Welsh society film show next year.
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Rising Sea Levels and UK’s first “climate refugees”
The Welsh village of Fairbourne is at a high risk of being submerged from rising sea levels and residents have been told they will need to move, but many say they will refuse to leave. The tiny Welsh village nestled between Snowdonia National Park and the Irish Sea has been identified as being at high risk of future flooding because of climate change, with residents being told it is beyond saving.
NEWSLETTER
No 40, SEPTEMBER 2025
WELSH SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN TASMANIA
In 2014 Gwynedd County Council said it would not maintain flood defences indefinitely and that from 2054 the village will be uninhabitable.
The Council plans to “decommission” the entire village, dismantling all homes, roads, shops and infrastructure and turn it back into marshland.
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Forgotten 18th Century Walled Garden to get 2 million pounds makeover
A once forgotten walled garden dating back to the 1790’s is set to bloom again with a 1.2 million pounds grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Records show that the Abergwili’s Walled Garden, based in Carmarthen, once grew vegetables and fruit including pineapples for the estate of the Bishop of St. David’s. The Tywi Gateway Trust which has been managing the restoration at Parc yr Esgob (Bishop’s Park) since 2017, will use the grant to rebuild three historic glass houses along with a Gardner’s shelter, while the newly restored area will host community and education events along with public performances
NEWSLETTER
No 40, SEPTEMBER 2025
WELSH SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN TASMANIA
Betsan Caldwell, chair of the trust, said “it was in many respects a secret garden “hidden” behind its stone walls, and that people had not been able to access it due to its state.
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Iris Williams – Welsh Singer
Earlier this year the renowned Welsh Singer, Iris Williams, died at the age of 79. She was born in Rhydyfelin, Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taff in 1946. Her father was a black American G1 posted to Wales during World War Two and her mother, whom he met at a dance hall in Ponty, gave Iris up for adoption. Williams was raised in a children’s
home and with foster family in Tonyrefail, Rhondda Cynon Taf.
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No 40, SEPTEMBER 2025
WELSH SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN TASMANIA
She was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama while working in a glove factory in Llantrisant, South Wales. She eventually went on to perform for Queen Elizabeth 1st at the Royal Albert Hall in London and for the US President, Gerald Ford, on a number of occasions.
Williams performed around the world including in the US where she was living at the time of her death. Her hits included “:He Was Beautiful” and “Pererin Wyf” a Welsh language version of Amazing Grace.
In the 1960’s Williams appeared on the Welsh BBC pop music programme and from there she went on to feature in her own BBC TV Show. In 1974, she won Can I Gymru, the Welsh language competition, A Song For Wales, with the song “I gael Cymru’n Gymru Rhydd” translated to ‘For a Free Wales”. In 1999 she was among a group of performances to take part in a concert to celebrate the opening of the National Assembly of Wales. In 2004, she was honoured with an OBE for her contribution to music and in 2006 was admitted to the Gorsedd of Bards at the National Eisteddfod.
She later moved to the United States but remained proud of her Welsh heritage.
Williams’ brother, Ashley quoted that he never met her until they were adults.
During her last years, she worked in some of the most prestigious cabaret venues in America where she sang Welsh songs.
NEWSLETTER
No 40, SEPTEMBER 2025
WELSH SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN TASMANIA
Whenever Williams came back to Wales on a visit, she would always take a trip to Tonyrefail as she loved the South Wales valleys.
Ruth Ellis the last woman to receive the death penalty
Earlier this year ITV broadcast a four-part drama series entitled “A Cruel Love – a true story about the life of Ruth Ellis.
She was Welsh and was born in Rhyl, North Wales in 1926.
Her mother, Elizabeth was from Belgium, and her father,
Arthur Homby, was a musician from Manchester. The family moved to London in 1941.
In 1953, Ruth Ellis, then 28 years old, was working as a nightclub manageress when she met David Blakely, a racing driver, who was from Shrewsbury. The two had a relationship, but by early 1955, David Blakely was beginning to lose interest and became abusive .
NEWSLETTER
No 40, SEPTEMBER 2025
WELSH SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN TASMANIA
On the 10th of April 1955, Ruth shot her lover dead outside the Magdala pub in London. After being found guilty of murder in the Old Bailey in London, Ruth Ellis was sentenced to death. Many people signed a petition against the death penalty for her, but it was unsuccessful.
The Head of Prison had to call for additional help from the police when a crowd of 500 came to protest outside Holloway prison.
Ruth Ellis is famous for being the last woman to receive the death penalty in Britain and some say her case helped towards an end to capital punishment. The death penalty as punishment for murder was abolished in Britain in 1965.
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Coney Beach Amusement Park
A sad day for a Welsh town as the iconic seafront Coney Beach Amusement Park situated in the picturesque seaside town of Porthcawl, South Wales ceased to operate. The once vibrant fair closed its huge iron gates for the final time followed by an after dark fireworks display to mark the end of the amusement park after more than 100 years of entertaining generations of families with its mixture
of classic rides and nostalgic arcades.
NEWSLETTER
No 40, SEPTEMBER 2025
WELSH SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN TASMANIA
When it opened in 1918, George V was monarch, and the country was in the final days of World War 1. It is thought that Coney Beach Amusement Park was built to entertain the American troops returning from the war and took its name from New York’s pleasure park on Coney Island.
The closure and demolition are due to the plans drafted in partnership with the Welsh Government for redeveloping the waterfront which will include 1,100 new homes, shops and restaurants.
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Not all is lost for Porthcawl
Recently thousands of Elvis fans descended on Porthcawl for Europe’s biggest celebration of the star. The Porthcawl Elvis Festival has had the town Rocking Around the clock since its 2004 launch.
Events included more than 50 Elvis tribute artists and 200 shows over three days including the crowning of the best Elvis of the Festival.
It had thousands saying ‘Viva Las Porthcawl.’
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ FUTURE EVENTS - DATES FOR THE DIARY
Friday 31st October - Coffee morning –at the Hollow Tree Café, 860 Cambridge Road, Cambridge 7170 at 10.30am.
NEWSLETTER
No 40, SEPTEMBER 2025
WELSH SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN TASMANIA
Monday 26th January 2026 – Australian Day – Barbeque at Francine and David Mitchells’ home in Bellerive.
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