Challenge to watch this without getting a lump in your throat

[Stifyn]

26. Historical Correction

I came across this thread on this forum by accident and I am a fervent supporter of OBA. You have obviously done some research but I would like to make some corrections.

In your first 2 paragraphs you make the following statements.

"What do the English know about history of their culture, good quality community activism for youth, and choral singing in what is a foreign language to the Brits?). "

OBA and the songs they sing have nothing at all to do with English history and culture. Welsh is a foreign language to the English who are Brits but it is not foreign to the Welsh who are the true and original Brits.


"spectacular rolling hilly country in the west of England"

Wales in not in the west of England, it is not even in England.

"There is a church sponsorship of each of these groups"

There is no church sponsorship at all. The groups that make up the choir is sponsored by the Principality Building Society.

The worst insult you could make to a Welshman and to everyone of the choir members of OBA is to say that their country in in England and therefore that they are English.

With regard to your third paragraph. Wales is indeed a separate country within the UK. The UK is a nation state and not a country. The UK comprises a number of countries such as Wales and Wales has its own institutions independent of the UK. Wales has its own government and the Church in Wales is independent from the Church of England.

When the Romans left Britain in the 5th century, all of present day England, southern Scotland and Wales was Brythonic (Welsh) speaking. The oldest surviving Welsh literature was actually written in one of the old Welsh Kingdoms of southern Scotland. When the English ( Angles, Saxons, Jutes) came across from Europe they eventually took over all of present day England and the Welsh and English were at war with each other continually for the best part of 1,000 years. The Normans conquered England in 1066 but they did not conquer Wales either. As a result of the Norman conquest you have many French words in the English language such as rendezvous, parliament, avenue, morale, maroon,etiquette, ect etc etc. In fact approx 30% of words in the English language are of French origin.
Wales was finally annexed to England in 1536 by the Tudor King Henry VIII. His father Henry VII was a Welshman who went into exile as a young man but came back to Wales in 1485 and raised a Welsh army. He marched into England and defeated the then King of England at the battle of Bosworth which resulted in the Tudor dynasty. Henry Tudor is descended from the Tewdr dynasty of Anglesey in North Wales. This was in effect a pyrrhic victory for the Welsh because the Tudors finally in effect brought about then end of conflict and the Welsh struggle for independence that had been going on since the Romans departed 1,000 previously.

Welsh along with Cornish and Breton are part of the Brythonic branch of Celtic whilst Irish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic and Manx are part of the Goedelic branch of Celtic. The Scots were a tribe living in Ireland who migrated to the west of Scotland and thus introduced the Gaelic language there. When Scotland was eventually united there were three main languages which were Welsh, Gaelic and Pictish ( another Brythonic language) but they all died out with the exception of Gaelic which is now only spoken by approx 60,000 people in the Western Isles. Irish Gaelic is only spoken as an everyday language in a few remote places in the west of Ireland in areas referred to as the Gaeltacht. Welsh was spoken by half of the population of Wales in 1900 but steadily declined to just under 20% by 1961 but since then it has seen a revival with over 600,000 ( over 20%) speaking it and there is a strong revival with a growing demand for Welsh medium schools. The 2001 census shows that 40% of children in the age group of the OBA choir can speak Welsh.

"Some of the stone for the Stonehenge comes from northern Wales."

The stones in fact came from the Preseli mountains which are in south west Wales.


If you are not aware by the way, OBA are releasing their first album next month which you can pre-order via Amazon. There are 2 versions but I would recommend the Christmas version.