Lecture #1 (10.10.24, 14:00)
This lecture will be conducted through the medium of English
Book here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1020517925587?aff=oddtdtcreator
A mere three years after the Football Association of Wales (FAW) was established in Wrexham, Bangor – and a number of other clubs-decided to leave the nascent governing body and form their own alternative association, which would be administered from the north-west of the country. The Northern Welsh Football Association came into being in October 1879 and although the regional designation within the new body’s name suggested to the contrary- it’s clear that its founders’ intention was to challenge (and overthrow) the recognized natural hegemony of the older easter-based organisation.
After firstly discussing the factors that led to the formation of the Northern Welsh F.A this talk will then trace the (brief) history of the alternative ‘national’ football association and consider the reasons for its failure, before finishing by considering the fleeting organisation’s legacy…if, indeed, it had one!
Lecture #2 (17.10.24, 14:00)
This lecture will be conducted through the medium of Welsh
Book here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1020527895407?aff=oddtdtcreator
The late Victorian and Edwardian slate quarrying communities of Caernarfonshire and Meirionethshire have long been portrayed as ‘bastion(s)…of a Welsh culture”, where ‘censorious eye of nonconformity deeply affected’ the day to day behaviour of the inhabitants and ‘the chapel’s embrace was intense and not restricted to Sundays’.
So, were the Victorian and Edwardian slate workers of north west Wales actually any more devour or respectable than any other contemporary group of industrial workers? By focussing on the sporting culture of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Gwynedd, this talk will argue that this was not in fact the case and by extension, that the dominance and influence of the supposedly omnipotent chapels was not therefore as far reaching or all encompassing as has previously been suggested
Lecture #3 (24.10.24, 14:00)
This lecture will be conducted through the medium of Welsh
Book here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1020534786017?aff=oddtdtcreator
Along with recounting the lost history of the solitary Welsh gymnast who witnessed the chaos of the 1990 olympics, this talk will also look at the trials and tribulations of the nine Welshmen who competed for medals when the games returned to the banks of the river Seine, just under a quarter of a century later. Beside that select group of “official” Welsh representatives, the British team for the 1924 Olympic Games also included two other leading athletes of Welsh descent and as their extraordinary stories will be told, the relatively unknown connection between Wales and the film, Chariots of Fire, will also be revealed.
