Welsh Exiles Around the World
Gather to Celebrate National Day
By EIFION WILLIAMS
VANCOUVER - On March 1, St. David's Day will be celebrated throughout the world by Welsh exiles and people of Welsh heritage, including the Welsh communities in British Columbia and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.
In Wales itself, there has been a strong demand in recent years that the British government declare St. David's Day a bank holiday. Last year, 87 percent of people polled in Wales supported the idea. A petition in support of a St. David's Day bank holiday was rejected by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2006.
Members of the Welsh Assembly point out that St. Patrick's Day is a bank holiday in Northern Ireland, while the Scottish Parliament has introduced a voluntary bank holiday on St. Andrew's Day. There is also a website urging the people of England to demand a holiday on St. George's Day, April 23, stating that "everything from cricket to curry could be celebrated."
The United Kingdom has the lowest number of public holidays in Europe, except for Romania. It is widely expected that Prime Minister Gordon Brown will approve an additional bank holiday for the UK later this year.
Good Morning Television (GMTV) in the UK recently organized a debate on when the new bank holiday should be. The suggestions ranged from the sensible to the bizarre.
Among the most sensible was a British Forces Day on the Monday closest to Armistice Day, November 11. (The day is already a holiday in Canada and the United States). Another was July 5, the anniversary of the birth of the British National Health Service.
Among the more bizarre suggestions was the July 1 birthday of Diana, Princess of Wales, and February 9, the day the Beatles first played the Cavern Club in Liverpool.
Despite the poll results and the Assembly's support, there is also significant opposition in Wales to a St. David's Day holiday. The Swansea City Council has already registered its opposition to the idea on the grounds that it would cost the city a huge amount of money to pay workers who had to work during the holiday.
Perhaps the strongest argument against a St. David's Day holiday was made by Eluned Morgan, Labour Member of the European Parliament. St. David's Day, she maintains, has traditionally been celebrated in schools throughout the nation with musical and literary activities, the wearing of Welsh costumes, and other forms of celebration, giving the day some focus and meaning.
She believes a bank holiday would erode all meaning to the celebration, and would eventually come to be regarded as just another day off.
The Vancouver Welsh Society will hold its annual St. David's Day Dinner at the Cambrian Hall on March 1 at 7 PM. Tickets cost $35 and are available from Gaynor Evans, (604) 271-3134.
The Puget Sound Welsh Association will celebrate St. David's Day in Seattle on March 2 with a Concert at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, commencing at 2:30 PM. The guest soloist will be mezzo-soprano Ann Atkinson from Wales. Further information can be obtained from Brian Parry at (206) 524-0854.
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