THE March Open meeting of Crediton and District U3A group saw about 80 attendees, which began with the Annual General Meeting (this was quick and painless), followed by an entertaining talk by Anne and Martin Greig.

The title of their talk was “Croeso I Cymru/Welcome to Wales” and Anne explained that she and Martin had visited Wales for many years for holidays and had decided to retire to the area.

They bought a stone cottage in Llangrannog, a coastal village near to New Quay (in New Quay 60 per cent of the houses are holiday homes!). They were enthusiastic about learning about their adopted country and speaking the language.

Anne explained that house names described locations such as “little dwelling place by the stream” and that people, many sharing the same second names, were referred to by their occupations eg Dai Carpenter.

Members of the audience were encouraged to share the words and phrases they knew in Welsh and we were treated to a lesson on how to pronounce some words.

Anne explained that Wales had many special days throughout the year.

Just one of these being the Welsh equivalent of Valentine’s day, known as Dydd Santes Dwynwen, on January 25. Dwynwen, the Welsh patron saint of lovers, was not allowed to be with the man she loved and went to be a nun where she prayed for all lovers to be together.

Thank you to Anne for a passionate talk that clearly relayed her love of Wales and her lovely assistant (her words), Martin, who did all the “techie” support.

The next Open Meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 17 and will include a talk to be given by Professor Roy Sambles entitled “The Wonder of Light”.

For more information please visit our website ( U3asites.org.uk/crediton ) or telephone David Agasee (chair) on 01363 775698.

Jo Poulton