NEWS: SECRET OF THE WAVES – STORIES OF OLD CARDIGAN BAY

In September 1882 a brig called the ‘Rowland Evans’ was abandoned and sank off Bardsey Island ‘ in fine weather, with a calm sea and a favourable breeze, with every spar and sail intact, with two excellent boats, a pump still throwing water, with an obedient crew, and within 28 or 30 miles of the visible Cardiganshire coast, which offered two or three places that might have been approached with safety’. 

            This ship the‘Rowland Evans’ was my great- grandfather’s ship and I was determined to solve the mystery of what happened to her. I had heard the basic story from my grandmother and her two sisters who told the tale very much in their own unique way. Gradually I discovered that their father, the ship’s captain, was taken to a disciplinary hearing for what had happened to the ship.

            Here was fine material for an adult oral storytelling session and together with my fellow Essex Storyteller Carl Merry, we put together the ‘Secret of the Waves’ and in the process were delighted to discover the treasures of our Welsh Childhood- stories like Cantref Gwelod, Taliesin, King Maelgwn and the mystery of why seagulls cry. Here at last we were finding what is so special about the stories of the Ceredigion Coast and maybe a little truth about what really happened to the ship.

            To hear these stories come alive, listen to Carl and I bring these tales to life dipping into our experience of oral storytelling over 25 years to a wide variety of audiences! Here are the times of telling:-

August 3^rd at 3 o’clock on in the Tabernacle , Machynlleth (Tickets from the Tabernacle).
August 4th at 3 o’clock at Borth Community Hall (Tickets from the Premier shop,Borth)

August 5^th at 7’clock at Neuadd Dyfi (From Aberdovey Tourist Information Board)

Jan Williams 01206 305630      Email: Janwilltell@aol.com