The role of Adult education in preserving the identity of an ethnic minority: the Welsh case

written by Dr. J.R.P. Evans, Wales, 1991

It is difficult to relate the title of this paper to the experience of Wales ‑ at first sight ‑ because the Welsh people are not an ethnic minori­ty in Wales. Indeed there are good grounds to identify Eng­lish people living in Wales as a true ethnic minority. If one uses instead the terms "linguis­tic" minority as a form of ethnic minority then there are matters associated with the title which can be readily addres­sed. Indeed it will be argued that in the last 25 years or so Adult Education has had and continues to have, a crucial role in the preservation of the Welsh Langu­age and in so doing preserving also our national heri­tage in terms of culture, music, sport etc.

Where is Wales? What is this land that we are speaking of?

Wales may not be an island, but it is different from England. Wales has a separate character, a sense of community, continuity and history, perhaps a character forged by the crucible of conflict in that history.

We have a flag ‑ y Ddraig Goch ‑ which does not fit neatly into the Union Jack, a national anthem, a living language which is over 2000 years old and still developing, and a national heritage which, though inextrica­bly linked with our larger neighbour, is truly distinctive.

Wales is a Celtic country of myth and magic. Even in these pragmatic and prosaic times the Celtic nature of most of its people is more in tune with cultural and spiritual matters than the more materialistic aspects of modern life. Traditionally the Celts are thought to have been short, dark and warlike. Whilst there is indeed a Celtic sub‑race who H have these characte­ristics, there is also the sub‑race who are tall with blond or fair hair ‑ and warlike. These days most Welsh people are mixtures of both with addi­tions from Ireland ‑ another Celtic nation ‑ and England. To these strains there is, also, particularly from those families who ori­ginated from the coastal areas, the genetic inheritance of the Vikings ‑ over 1000 years ago. The Greek writer Strabo says of the Celts : "The whole race is war‑mad, high spirited and quick to fight, otherwise straightforward and not at all of evil character."

Wales geographic position locates it on the Western side of the main island of the British Isles. Although still proclaiming its separate identity, and ‑ some would argue ‑ separate nationality, administratively and legally Wales and England are a joint entity. This is different from Scotland which has a separate legal and administrative system and different from Northern Ireland where other forces infringe upon and are more important than such mundane matters as life and death. Coming, as I do from a Welsh father and an Irish mother I claim an aquaintanceship with these matters. I do not share the agenda of the narrow nationalists but, perhaps parado­xically, would wish to see a United Ireland. That subject has taxed greater minds than mine over far longer periods of time than this Meeting in Finland Seminar.

Before considering these last 25 years or so in Wales, it is perhaps appro­priate to consider a historical "snap shot" of Wales and the Welsh, in order to have a contextual backcloth for those years.

Wales is a modernised version of the Anglo Saxon term wealeas meaning "foreign". Though how we can be foreigners in our own land I do not know. In our own language we are y Gymru ‑ a word which translates albeit poorly as "brotherhood" or "comradery" but which has a warmth and a strength about it.

The Saxon King, Offa of Mercia (757 ‑ 796 A.D.) fed up with the persistent raids across the border into his English Kingdom for their cattle, goods and fair maidens, built an enormous earthwork 168 miles (approxima­tely 270 kms) long from Chepstow in the South to Chester in the North. This took place after the Battle of Hereford in 760 A.D. which we lost. There were severe penalties imposed upon Welsh transgressors if caught. Offa decreed that every Welshman found with a weapon on the Mercian (English) side of the dyke was to have his right hand cut off forthwith. The dyke did not stop the struggle and the Mercians made frequent forays into Wales and were the recipients of reciprocal attacks. Indeed Offa's son Canwulf died in 821 A.D. in the course of a new campaign to put an end to the Welsh ‑ he too failed.

Whilst Offa's Dyke marked the first physical boundary between England and Wales, the English were certainly not the first to attempt the conquest of the Welsh.

The Welsh are one of six Celtic races ‑ the Welsh, Bretons and Cornish, known as Brythonic Celts and the Irish, Manx and Scots known as Goidelic Celts.

The Celtic heritage is the oldest in Europe after Greek and Latin. They seem to have originated in the area of the source of the Danube, in the Black Forest in Germany. From there they seem to have moved onwards and outwards. In 400 B.C. they sacked Rome. In 279 B.C. they sacked Delphi ‑ and probably carried off any vestal virgins they found there. In 600 B.C. they crossed the English Channel into Britain. Britain is in fact a Celtic word which some argue comes from the Celtic work for Tartan.

Although the Romans conquered what is now England and subdued the great Belgae tribe, their progress into Wales was much more difficult and it is no surprise to find two of Britain's three Legionary fortresses at Caerleon in the South and Chester in the North, of Wales. The other was at York. The Romans built military camps and military roads throughout Wales and esta­blished seaports at such places as Cardiff and Neath. Their lack of success in conquering the Silures can be measured by the fact that the only civilian Roman town established in Wales was at Caerwent near Caerleon in the East. Also all of their roads were on bare hilltops and ridges and never in the valleys.

The Anglo Saxon invasion was much more serious and the united armies of the Celtic Confederacy clashed with the Anglo Saxons at Winwaed field in 655 A.D. The "English" army triumphed and the Celtic leader Penda and some thirty chieftains and other nobles fell in the battle. This led to a period of increasing "English" incursions into what were Welsh lands.

At the beginning of the ninth century Britain was again swept by fierce invaders. These were the Norsemen or Vikings who sailed from their Scan­dinavian creeks and fiords to the uttermost parts of Europe and even the East Coast of America. There seemed to be little attempt by the Vikings to settle in Wales ‑ unlike England ‑ and they seemed to have confined themselves ‑ or have been confined ‑ to Anglesey, Swansea, Milford and two small islands in the Bristol Channel, Steepholm and Flatholm. The Viking depredations did have two significant effects, one was the emergence of the first supreme ruler of Wales, Rhodri the Great and the second was the first joint army of Welsh and English led by King Alfred, which defeated the Danish (a generic term for all Vikings) army under Haesten in 896 A.D. Five years later under Edward the Elder, the English repudiated their allian­ce and once again Wales and England were enemies.

The great Welsh Prince Hywel Dda united Wales once more and established peaceful co‑existance with England. He also codified Welsh laws and called together the first Welsh Parliament to achieve this. Perhaps the first recorded instance of the Welsh forming a committee.

Viking depredations and the continuing conflicts with England did not end with the Norman Invasion. The Normans regarded Wales as an extension of England and therefore theirs by right. One of the Welsh princes who opposed the Normans until his death in battle in 1093 was Rhys ap Tewdur ‑ an ances­tor of Henry Tewdur (Tudor) of whom later. Henry I, grandson of William the Conqueror began his first Welsh campaign in 1114 but with his death in 1135 all of the conquests made by him were lost in a matter of weeks. The grea­test Norman Lord of the time Richard Fitz Gilbert was killed and his forces routed. The civil war in England between the forces of King Stephen and the forces of the Empress Matilda which broke out with the landing of the Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I, meant that the English had other matters on their minds.

Henry II decided to try and conquer Wales in 1163 but his huge army failed to make contact with the Welsh army. Harried and battered by skirmishers and doubtless targets for Welsh archers, the English retired to Shropshire. Henry turned to the Continent for his conquests.

In 1246 the last native Prince of Wales came to power. This was Llewellyn ap Gruffyd ap Llywelyn. He signed a peace treaty with Henry III ‑ as well as forming alliances with Henry's enemies like the Scots. However Edward, Henry's son, became King in 1272, and 1277 decided to conquer Wales. After a number of fierce battles Llywelyn and Edward signed a truce. This lasted but four years and Llywelyn struck again. During this campaign on 11 December 1282, Llywelyn was ambushed and killed by English soldiers at Cilmeri near Builth Wells. His head was sent as a present to Edward. His brother Dafydd was captured early in 1283 and was murdered (executed) in Shrewsbury. This ended the independent Royal Household of Wales which had lasted from 844 ‑ nearly 400 years.

Edward's conquest was more in name than in fact and he left the internal workings of the country alone. Welsh language and literature continued to flourish. There were uprisings from time to time but always the result was the arrival of the Royal army and defeat. Perhaps the greatest uprising was that of Owain Glyndwr (Owen Glendower of Shakespeare). In 1400 he raised the ancient Welsh standard ‑ a golden dragon on a silver background ‑ and all Wales rose in revolt. In 1401 Owain was proclaimed Prince of Wales. Despite English allies like Sir Edmund Mortimer and Henry (Hots­pur) Percy Earl of Northumberland, the "freedom" did not last long. Prince Henry (after Henry V) commanded the English armies and defeated Hotspur at Shrewsbury in 1403. Hotspur died on the battle field. Owain was met in 1405 at Grosmont near Usk in Gwent and his army defeated. Aberystwyth fell in 1408 and the great Castle of Harlech in 1409.

Shortly after this time an anglicised Welshman Sir Owain Tudor married the widow of Henry V, Catherine of France. His sons Jasper and Edmund became the Earls of Pembroke and Richmond. Edmund Tudor married Lady Margaret Beaufort and in 1457 Henry Tudor was born.

Britain was beset by the wars of the Roses and on 8 August 1485 Henry Tudor and his Uncle Jasper landed at Milford Haven. They raised a Welsh army and marched against Richard III. On 21 August 1485 Henry Tudor's army flying the Red Dragon banner of Cadwaladr won the day. Richard was slain and Henry Tudor was crowned on the battle field. This Henry VIII ‑ Henry Tudor ‑ a Welsh prince ascended the throne of England.

This brought nothing to Wales and in 1536 his son Henry VIII granted the Royal Ascent to the Act of Union. This Act brought Welsh law and admini­stration into line with England. The policy of the Tudor Government was to incorporate Wales into England by removing all differences, especially the language. Six years later, the 1542 Act set out to "extirp" the Welsh language and to exclude monoglot Welsh speakers from holding office under the Crown.

The problems which the English Crown had with first the Pope, then the Spanish Empire and others meant that for the next two hundred and fifty years or so, Wales became a backwater.

In the 1730's education became an issue of importance. The only Welsh attempts at establishing universi­ties foundered with Owain Glyndwr's failu­res. There is however the foundation of the Welsh College at Oxford ‑ Jesus College ‑ founded in 1571 by Queen Elizabeth I. In 1731 Griffith Jones, vicar of Llanddow­ror, Carmarthenshire, established a school in his parish to teach people to read Welsh. Not children but adults, perhaps the first instance of "adult education". By the time of his death in 1761 Jones' Circulating Schools numbered over 3,000 and were teaching some 158,000 people ‑ children and adults.

In 1751 the first Welsh Society ‑ The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion ‑ was formed. The Society still exists today and the Patron is Her Majesty the Queen.

The major change in life in Wales came at the end of the Eighteenth Century and at the commencement of the Nineteenth when the conjunction of fuel ‑ first wood for charcoal then coal ‑ iron ore, limestone and water led to the birth of the Industrial Revolution. At one time Wales was the major producer of iron in the world. The iron towns of the Heads of the Valleys area needed workers and thousands flocked into the area. Most of these immigrants came from the farming communities of Wales. Others came across the Severn from Somerset and Gloucester, yet others from Hereford and Shropshire. A large number came from Ireland.

The iron masters were English and supported the Established Church of Eng­land. The majority of the workforce were Welsh and non‑conformist. The situation, linguistically, became very confused with instructions and direc­tions in the workplace given in English yet home life and religious life were conducted in Welsh. Obviously monoglot Welsh speakers were disadvantaged and the anglicisation process took a substantial step for­ward.

Education was becoming a major focus of attention of those in Government, given the agitation for political reform. During this period there were a number of Royal Commission examining the state of education. In 1839 the Chartist Rebellion took place and was crushed outside the Westgate Hotel in Newport. The Chartist leaders were arrested, sentences to death but this was commuted to life imprisonment. Disturbed by this unrest, the Government sent commissioners to examine the state of education. The commissioners were monoglot English lawyers who conducted their inter­views in English largely with people for whom this was a foreign language and came to the conclusion that the Welsh were an illiterate, ignorant and heathen people. They cer­tainly read very little English, had no way of comprehending the questions put to them and did not support the Anglican Church. The 1847 Report ‑ published in blue covers ‑ became known as "Y Brad Llyfriau Gleision" ‑ the treachery of the blue books.

The recommendations were for teaching and led to the establishment of schools ‑ some funded by the Works ‑ for the children of the workforce. In order to discourage the children from speaking Welsh the "Welsh Not" was used. Initially this was a heavy oak board hung by string around the neck of a child at the level of the knees. It had written on it "Welsh Not" and would be worn all day. Later this was replaced by a much smaller device and ridicule and shame were used. At the end of the day the wearer of the "Welsh Not" would be caned.

The Welsh chapels continues to operate and successive waves of immigration especially to mine coal, from the Welsh speaking , gave fresh impetus to these chapels.

The growth of trade unions, seeking to encompass all workers ‑ Welsh, Eng­lish, Irish ‑ sought to use a common language. Since they had to negotiate with the iron masters or coal‑owners who would nto speak Welsh, they were forced to use English. This became the lingua franca of the Trade Union movement.

In 1904 there was a most incredible phenomenon. The Welsh Revival. A great preacher emerged and began calling the people from their godless ways. This touched a chord in the Welsh psyche and a huge wave of reli­gious fervour swept Wales from West to East, South to North. Pubs closed down, sports fixtures were cancelled, major outdoor preaching festivals took place, religious services took place every evening and at least three times on Sundays. All of this was conducted in Welsh. The Revival petered out but the legacy was a revival of the Welsh language.

The enormous blood letting of the First World War where a great many Welsh men and boys flocked to the colours and died in their thousands at Ypres, the Somme etc., was a tradegy for all. For a small nation the cost was dispro­portionately heavy.

The inter‑war years in Wales brought desolation and destitution as the market for Welsh steam‑coal collapsed both because of the Depression and the switch from coal to oil by both naval and merchant vessels. Many Welsh people migrated to England and America to find work. Even today there are sizeable Welsh populations in Coventry, Birmingham, and Reading in addition to the traditional venues of London, Bristol and Liverpool (for the North Walians). Each of these cities has its own Welsh Society, which celebrates 1 March (St. David's Day) and other Welsh festivals as well as providing a support network for newcomers.

The Second World War produced its own problems and again Welsh troops were in action in every theatre. Curiously enough, during the Winter War between Finland and Russia, Welsh troops were placed on standby to go to Finland's aid. They never got to Finland. They did get to Norway and were evacuated from Narvik. There was one celebrated use of Welsh during the war when the Japanese were being driven out of Burma and Malaya. Welsh radio operators spoke to each other in Welsh, the Japanese thought it was a code but they never broke it !

The social changes after the war revealed a world dominated by the largest English speaking nation ‑ America. Rapidly English became the Latin of the new order. All over the world there was a manifest desire to learn English. In Wales there was English tuition through the school system alongside Welsh, gradually the level of Welsh education fell. With the increasing secula­risation of society the chapels became refuges of an ageing population no longer regenerated by young mature adults. As the chapel populations died so their establishments became used for other non‑r­eligious purposes. To all intents and purposes Welsh was dying.

This was the scenario when Saunders Lewis ‑ the Catholic founder of Plaid Cymru ‑ gave his famous radio broadcast on 13 February 1962 ‑ Tynged yr Iaith ‑ The fate of the Language.

This broadcast was the spark which lit the fire of the latest surge for the preservation of the Welsh Language. Within a few months a group of stu­dents at University College, Aberystwyth formed Cymdeithias yr Iaith Gymraeg ‑ The Welsh Language Society. Within a very short period of time largely because of the activities of the activists polarising views, stirring cons­ciences on one side and inflaming tempers on the other, the Welsh language had become one of the major social and political issues in Welsh life.

The Post Office was initially the major target impinging as it does on the lives of everyone. In February 1963 a group of people blocked the bridge at Trefechan, Aberystwyth by sitting down in the road. Post office vans, inscribed Royal Mail suddenly had Post Brenninol as well. Post offices were also Swddfa'r Post, bilingual forms and other official documents began appearing but only have major protests and demonstrations on the one side aided by the quiet workings of others ‑ perhaps guilty about their past failings. Not everything was achieved by the road‑sign painters with their tins of green paint. Even as the campaign was being launched a report The Welsh Language Today was published at the end of 1963 by the Council for Wales and Monmouthshire. Amongst its seminal recommendations, the council recommended that Welsh should have official status, that people should have the right to use it in courts, inquiries and tribunals, in local government, in election papers, in correspondence with govern­ment departments and in official documents.

Nor did the Council shirk the emotional aspect of the language question. In its summary it said it had aimed at finding a policy on which the whole of Wales could write :

"We are conscious of divisions in Wales on this question, but we are convinced that the majority of people in Wales are anxious to see the Welsh Language survive and flourish. The survival and strength of a language depend upon the exercise of the general will of the community. If the com­munity do not favour the use of the langu­age, government and other insti­tutions can do little. Language cannot be imposed on a people: it must be embraced voluntarily ... While the language cannot be deliberately imposed upon people, neither should its use be thoughtlessly or deliberately under­mined ... There are two guiding princi­ples : firstly the firm protec­tion of individual rights to use the language, and secondly a positive and practical sympathy towards the aspirations of those who wish to see it survive and flourish. In this we take the view that those who do not speak the language have cor­responding rights, and that these rights should be fully acknowled­ged." (The Welsh Language Today, 1963).

Sadly one has to recognise that this latter sentiment does not find favour with the Language Activists.

The Hughes‑Parry Committee set up in 1963 with a remit to clarify the legal status of Welsh and consider whether changes should be made to the law. Their report was presented in October 1965. It came out in favour of the principle of equal validity for Welsh and English. This meant that any form or document in Welsh would have the same validity in law as if it had been written in English. The committee decided against complete bilingualism, a disappointment to Cymdeithias. The principle of equal validity was approved and incorporated into the Welsh Language Act of 1967. This ended the 425 years during which Welsh officially did not exist.

The Welsh Language Society saw what they believed they alone had achieved by low key demonstrations and up graded their activities, roadsigns were daubed, there were sit‑down protests and demonstrations, they abused those in autho­rity who could not or would not speak Welsh. The campaign fo­cused around trying to prevent or at least hinder the Investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales. Matters became very heated as the campaign took a sinister turn with the bombers planting their deadly devices. After the Investiture the road signs campaign became if anything even more dynamic. Thousands of signs were daubed with green paint, hundreds pulled down and dumped at County Council headquarters or at the Welsh Office in Cardiff. Nor did fines or imprisonment stop or even deter these protes­ters. They accepted imprisonment in the belief that they were latter‑day Welsh martyrs. For all that it was clear that the spirit of the 1987 Act was not working even if the letter was ‑ and that is open to question.

In a number of ways the language struggle hardened in 1971. As views pola­rised there was an increasing resentment and condemnation of the militant language campaigners from some quarters. In this sensitive situation many people began to question whether there was now a genuine danger of a harmful division developing in Welsh society. There were those monoglot English speaking Welshmen who were being made to feel very second‑class. As an example whilst English people who work for BBC or HTV do not have to speak Welsh, a Welsh person applying who does not speak Welsh will not even be interviewed.

Almost in spite of the Welsh Language Society and their political arm Plaid Cymru, although y Blaid denies any connection it is a fact that every member of Cymdeithias is a Plaid member also, there is a genuine feeling of warmth and sympathy for the language both as a living medium of communication and as a vehicle of our national culture. This can be eviden­ced in the success of the two Eisteddfodau held in angli­cised South Wales in 1988 and 1990. In 1988 170,000 attended the Eis­teddfod at Newport many, many of them were non‑Welsh speakers. At Rhymney in 1990 over 130,000 people attended. Again this is an area where most people are monoglot English speakers. It did, however, give a boost to the language.

Eisteddfodau have a long tradition as musical contests with poets, singers and musicians tried for success. The ultimate accolade accorded to the premier poet was a wooden chair ‑ eisteddfod stems from the Welsh word eisteddwch ‑ to sit. The National Eisteddfod in its modern form was re‑intr­oduced by Iolo Morgannwg, together with its gorsedd of bards ‑ pseudo‑druidic ritual invented by Morgannwg. Notwithstanding this somewhat doubtful histo­rical base, the Eisteddfod has gone from streng­th to strength, meeting each year in August alternating between North Wales and South Wales. Up until 1950 there was no bar on the use of English other than the Chair and Crown poetry. At the Caerphilly Eisteddfod of 1950 the All Welsh Rule was proposed and accepted. Now it is the norm that all partici­pants at the Eisteddfod both in the Pavilion and on the maes itself are expected to speak Welsh. As the host of the 1990 Eisteddfod at Rhymney, I welcomed all the partici­pants ‑ in Welsh. The eisteddfod visit to an area always provides a substan­tial boost for the Welsh language in that area with the anticipation of the event, the event itself and the post‑event atmosphere. A great deal of voluntary work is entailed and the enthusiasm of participation often provides the spark to ignite the process of learning the language. Although there are very strong non‑conformist reli­gious elements involved in the eisteddfod ‑ many of the Bards are Reve­rend gentlemen of Baptist, Unitarian, Primitive Methodists traditions and others ‑ there has been a growing secularisati­on with the re‑emergence of Welsh folk songs and folk dances both of which were ruthless­ly supressed during the Non‑conformist Revival of 1904. Dancing was seen as enormously sinful whilst any singing was only to be religious hymns in chapels mainly on Sundays.

The recent history of the Welsh language seems to be one of campaigns and protest. In the early years of this Twentieth Century there was the campaign for the Disestablishment of the Anglican church. The vast majori­ty of people in Wales either support alternative churches, the Catholic church or had no religious affiliations at all yet all who owned or occu­pied land had to pay tithes to the Anglican Church. The clear injustice of this eventually found favour in Parliament despite the vi­gourous opposition of the Anglican Church who saw a lot of its revenue being lost. The Anglican Church ‑ now known as the Church in Wales ‑ has been disestablished for some 73 years.

Other campaigns have been for a Secretary of State for Wales with the same status as Scotland and Northern Ireland together with a seat in Cabinet ‑ Government ‑ Cymru Fydd established in 1886 very quickly became invol­ved in the demand for a Welsh Secretary of State. In the heady days leading up to the First World War, there was a campaign for Welsh Home Rule with a Secreta­ry of State being seen as a first step. There were many hopes and aspira­tions which died on the battlefields of Flanders. Nor was the Welsh dimensi­on high on the list at the inauguration of the League of Na­tions. The revival of interest in a Secretary of State for Wales in the interwar years also was frustrated by war, this time the Second World War. Eventually, despite Tory party opposition Jim Griffiths was appointed for the first Secretary of State by Prime Minister Harold Wilson in 1964. Since that time there have been eight Secretaries of State including one ‑ Peter Walker M.P. ‑ who was English !

Yet another campaign was for a separate television channel for Wales. One of the foremost self‑publicists in Wales took this on, and Gwynfor Evans former Plaid Cymru M.P. for Carmarthen, President of Plaid Cymru threatened to go on hunger strike in unless a separate Welsh Language channel was made available. This would be additional to BBC Radio Cym­ru which broadcast in Welsh S4C ‑ short for Sianel Pedwar Cymru ‑ was formed in November 1982 with a remit of providing Welsh Language T.V. broadcasting. These programmes are supplied by the BBC and ITV as well as independent producers. The station produces some 28 to 30 hours of Welsh Language broadcasting per week out of a programme of 140 hours per week. So even the premier Welsh language medium only offers 21.43% ‑ at best ‑ of its total programme hours in Welsh. The remainder is in English. S4C does however produce the Welsh learners programme "Now you're tal­king" which is attracting audiences of some 100 to 120,000 and a take‑up of the documentary material of 8000 per fortnight.

All of this activity, political and non‑political, parliamentary and non‑pa­rliamentary, has raised the profile of the Welsh language both for good and for ill. Opinion has been polarised with many ‑ even monoglot English speakers ‑ actively working for the language whilst others are quite happy to see it die. The usual statements of this latter group are along the lines of cost ‑ "It costs us double in Wales for everything because of the bi‑lingual policy" or along the lines of internationalism ‑ "We live in a wider world than just Wales so our children need to learn "useful" languages like French or German of Spanish or even Japane­se." Arraigned against these are those who love the language and reject the notion that our national culture and history should be either lost for ever or only available in a foreign langu­age ‑ English.

This heightened profile for the language has had an impact on adult educa­tion. As an example, my own Centre for many years ran a single, two hours per week Welsh class which attracted only eight people. During my 16 years as Warden the provision has increased to 5 regular 2 hour classes plus frequent day‑schools and intensive courses. All of these are extremely popular and attract people from all shades of opinion. In all some 10,000 Welsh learners are registered for classes in Wales. To there must be added the ‑ as yet ‑ uncounted thousands using broadcasts or private study mate­rials. The pressure to learn Welsh as adults, has been increased also by other provision. Of especial note is the Welsh Pre‑School Playg­roup Movement : Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin which runs pre‑school playg­roups for children under the age of five years ‑ through the medium of Welsh. Obviously to maximise the benefit to these children the parents need to be Welsh speaking and many are now learning Welsh in order to assist their children. Added to this has been the growth of both Welsh medium schools and Welsh units at­tached to English medium schools. Again parental support is vital and this has been a powerful motivating factor in bringing these parents to learn Welsh as adults.

Many are aware of the recent U.K. Government's decision to impose a Na­tional Curriculum on all State schools in the U.K. ‑ it does not apply to the private or so called "public" schools e.g. Eton, Harrow, Winchester etc., which their children attend ‑ with a certain set of core subjects which have to be taught. In Wales, the Government decided that Welsh would be a core subject and, apart from about 6 schools close to the English border, every school in Wales must teach Welsh up to the age of 16 years.

Resources to maximise the benefits of all this activity are slow in coming however. The Government has increased its funding for Welsh language teaching but much more is needed. There are only 20 to 30 full‑time tutors and organisers of Welsh in the whole of Wales. If there is to be a genuine attempt on the part of Central Government to aid Welsh this figure needs to be increased to 100 to 150. Also, Local Government, starved of cash over these past 12 years, needs additional funding and support to be able to provide a truly bi‑lingual service to the people. There are no signs of that happening as yet.

Lest one gets the impression that all is enlightenment and unstoppable progress to a Welsh speaking Wales, we must be aware of the size of the problem and the forces opposing this progress. Since the 1901 Census, Welsh language useage has declined from 49.9% to 18.9% in 1981. The figures for the 1991 Census have only just been collected ‑ so we are unable, until 1992, to determine whether this decline has been arrested. A word here needs to be said about the Welsh language questions on the Census form. There are only 3 ‑ 1. Do you speak Welsh; 2. Do you read Welsh; 3. Do you write Welsh. These were all yes/no questions with not opportunity for shades of answer. Nor was there the question: "Are you learning Welsh?" This I, and many others, believe to be an opportunity to gain accurate information, lost. We shall not have the opportunity to redress the balance until the 2001 Census.

To return to the forces against the Welsh language besides the opposi­tion within Wales. Here one must consider the enormous growth of English language television. The three most popular weekly programmes are all English langu­age soap‑operas : 1. Coronation Street; 2. Easten­ders; 3. Neighbours. These attract audiences in millions, Coronation Street had a top audience figure in excess of 30 million in the U.K. When one adds the trans‑Atlantic output as well with Dallas as probably the best known, the episode involving the shooting of J.R. had an incredi­ble viewing audience. Countering these attractions is a major task which has only been marginally attempted by S4C which broadcasts Pobl‑y‑Cwm and Dinas. Neither enjoys anything like the same audience figures as the 3 main English Language soaps.

There is also the political focus shift. Wales is on the western edge of Britain and, in common with other areas of the U.K., suffers from a lack of inward investment. With the growth of the strength of the European Econom­ic Community, especially if Austria and Hungary join, Britain itself will become a marginal nation unless London can retain its financial status, and unless this present Government can stop believing its own propaganda and stop fuelling their Recession and get the economy moving. Or get out of the way so that others with a better attitude and aptitude can. The shift of focus has grave implications for the Welsh language. English is seen as the major international language together with the other EEC major langu­ages. Welsh is not a major EEC language ‑ nor indeed are Welsh language translation facili­ties needed at either Brussels or Strasbourg.

What then is the future ? The prospect or even the possibility of shutting down all English language broadcasting in Wales is not even on the horizon. Even if one could get BBC & ITV to agree, the impact of satellite broadcas­ting is growing and growing. Jamming these transmissions poses serious constitutional questions in a free democratic nation. Even the Mary White­houses who claim to be the ‑ self appointed ‑ moral guardians of the nation are having problems in addressing the issue of what they believe to be unacceptable programs being received by satellite dishes in Britain. There is then, no prospect of English language broadcasting being reduced. The possibility of dubbing everything into Welsh has been looked at ‑ the classic Western Shane was dubbed into Welsh a few years ago. The exercise was extremely costly and very poorly received. One also has to ask is all of the cost involved in protecting the Welsh language justi­fied if less that 20% of the population are Welsh speaking ? That is less than 460,000 out of a population of some 2.3 million. By way of contrast all are English speaking. There are no monoglot Welsh spea­kers in Wales, there are many who refuse to speak English but those does not mean that they cannot. The other factor is the gradual erosion of the energy and enthusiasm of the language activists. They need an annual injection of new members with both of these attributes. One wonders for how long this will continue.

Perhaps the only way to arrest the decline and to start the rebuilding is by a massive injection of financial resources into adult education for the Welsh language coupled with an equally massive and sustained advertising programme on both BBC & ITV urging the populace at large to attend these classes. The negative actions of the roadsign painters and the cottage burners of North Wales needs to be replaced with a positive forward looking language philosop­hy leading to a real achievable policy for promoting the language. For that one needs the political will and not just of a ranting minority but of the majority of the people in Wales.

One has to ask the question, will our distinct national character be lost if we lose our language. One has to look at the experience of both the Irish and the Scottish who are even more monoglot English speaking than we in Wales.

It would however by an extremely sad day if we ever said goodbye to the oldest living language ‑ over 2000 years ‑ in Europe.