MAKING THE
MOST OF THE MILLENNIUM
The birth of the new millennium
has long since come and gone, but the title lives on
in Wales in the Millennium
Stadium, which opened in 1999, and the Wales Millennium
Centre (WMC), which opened late last year. The Millennium
Stadium was built just in time to host the 1999 Rugby World
Cup. My wife Helen and I were fortunate enough to be at
that Opening Ceremony, at which Bryn Terfel, Shirley Bassey,
Michael Ball and a host of Welsh Choirs sang, and we watched
Wales beat Argentina in the match following the ceremony.
Four weeks ago we were back at the stadium, again watching
Argentina play a home team in red. This time the home team
were the British Lions, captained by the Welsh skipper,
Michael Owen, and this time it took the boot of Wales’ arch
enemy Johnny Wilkinson to steal a last-minute draw against
a spirited Argentine side. The crowd of over 60,000 were
dressed mainly in Lions jerseys, and seemed, like the team
they supported, to be drawn mainly from England - certainly,
low-swinging chariots seem to outnumber heavenly loaves
in the sporadic singing. The British Lions Choir, 95 strong,
sang a medley of songs from all parts of the British Isles,
while visually and vocally gorgeous Katherine Jenkins sang
the Lions new tour song far better than it deserved, her
delivery masking the trite words and difficult tune.
Katherine
Jenkins The fact that the stadium wasn’t full was probably
a reflection on the Monday evening kick-off, the high ticket
prices, the Lions’ selectors and doubts about the
opposition. Still, the 60,000 fans dominated the middle
of Cardiff, providing another bonanza for fast food shops
and pubs and another headache for police and clean-up squads.
On the previous two days large crowds had attended the
vital end-of-season soccer playoff promotion and relegation
matches at the stadium, and the following long weekend
saw three days more of the same. On the day we left, central
Cardiff was in the hands of 40,000 West Ham supporters
and 30,000 Preston North End fans, Cardiff Bus Station
was part of a no-go area, and we had to catch our National
Express coach to Heathrow from the other side of the River
Taff.
The Wales Millennium Centre has
not been well publicised in Australia, despite the link
provided by its Chief Executive,
Judith Isherwood, formerly of the Sydney Opera House. The
new building’s exterior shape is bulky rather than
graceful: more like a whale than a sail, though whales
surely provide the most appropriate model in this capital
city. I had seen photos of the building and videos of its
opening concerts. I could recognise the horizontal strata
of slate, like metamorphosed St Donats cliffs, and the
Welsh and English words cut through the façade.
But I was not prepared for the roof. Made of stainless
steel impregnated with copper oxide, it shone across Cardiff
Bay as we took the waterbus from the Penarth end of the
barrage across to Mermaid Quay. Even though the Pierhead
Building was wrapped in plastic, and the new Welsh Assembly
Building was still a building site, there was a new majesty
about Cardiff Bay that wasn’t there on our last visit,
two and a half years ago. New buildings keep rising in
the Bay, along with new statues and memorials, some located
with delicious irony. Robert Falcon Scott died with his
colleagues, bitterly disappointed that the Norwegian hero,
Roald Amundsen, had beaten them to the South Pole. Now
Cardiff Bay has a striking memorial to Scott and his men,
who began their journey in the “Terra Nova” from
this very spot. And where is this memorial located? Straight
outside Cardiff’s Norwegian Church, where that other
Roald, Roald Dahl, was baptised.
The
Dragon plaque at the Welsh Millenium Centre The inside of the main WMC auditorium is magnificent.
We viewed it by day on a quick exploration, then experienced
it in action on our last night in Wales in a special concert
heralding the Urdd Eisteddfod, beginning that weekend.
The WMC is the new home of Urdd Gobaith Cymru, the cultural
movement for Welsh-speaking youth, and the concert showcased
their most talented performers, along with guest star Rhys
Meirion, now performing for Opera Australia. It was a brilliant
first taste for us of the new centre and we will certainly
be back as often as we can.
Inside
the Welsh Millenium Centre A more rural highlight of our
stay in Wales was a trip to see the laburnam arch in
flower at Bodnant Gardens near
Conwy. We were too early to see the arch at its best, but
we timed our visit perfectly for the rhododendrons and
azaleas in the marvellously varied gardens - part
formal, part ablaze with floral colour, part a wooded wonderland
of streams and glades and little valleys. Peacocks strode
through the gardens, and the only deficiency was the absence
of fish in the various ponds and streams - all, apparently,
taken by marauding otters.
In Swansea we visited the Dylan Thomas Centre and checked
on the updated museum display. We were also taken to a
beautiful new Mumbles restaurant, The Mermaid, on the site
of the old pub of the same name frequented by Dylan himself.
We were staying at the time with a stalwart of the Morriston
Orpheus Choir, John Williams, and his wife Winn, both frequent
visitors to Sydney.
Inside
the Dylan Thomas centre In Llanelli we were privileged to be among the first people
to dine at the beautiful clubhouse on the brand new coastal
golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus. We were taken there
by our host Byron Thomas, one of the few remaining founder
members of the Cor Meibion Llanelli, and his wife Sue.
Llanelli has undergone a metamorphosis in the last few
years, with a new shopping centre and the golf course,
wetlands, parkland and beach replacing the steelworks and
derelict land of yesteryear.
Some of our other visits were
to locations where the Sydney Welsh Choir hope to sing,
on next year’s tour, including
Haverfordwest, Brecon and the Pontypool area. One of the
local attractions at Pontypool is Blaenavon’s “Big
Pit”, which while we were there won the top museum
prize in Britain, the Gilbenkian Award, worth 250,000 AUD.
We also saw our old friends, the Caerphilly Ladies Choir,
in concert at Pontllanfraith, and spent a marvellous day
visiting Margam Castle, Abbey Church and Orangery, where
the gardens were in full bloom. St Fagan’s Folk Museum
also looked its best for our visit, though we had no chance
of seeing all the attractions in the time at our disposal.
We were, however, able to find some of the historic children’s
toys donated to the museum by the Llewellyn family of Baglan
House, near Bridgend. The toys in the nursery of this large
country house were once the playthings of the current Musical
Director of the Sydney Welsh Choir, Viv Llewellyn.
One really encouraging sign about
the future of Wales was the reduction in graffiti (in
contrast to Sydney) and
the general impression of politeness and goodwill given
by the children and young adults. Even on trains to the
Lions match filled with young Welsh supporters, the language
was beyond reproach, though the nearest they might get
to singing Welsh hymns would be a snatch of Max Boyce’s
Hymns & Arias.
Most of our weeks in Europe were spent in England with
a side-trip to Belgium, but our time in Wales was enough
to show us that, while some parts of Wales remain seemingly
unchanged, others are in a state of flux, and the changes
are by no means for the worse.
Worms
head on the Gower coast Clive Woosnam
7 June 2005
|
