Geoff Brookes' story or the Royal Charter appears in the Sep Oct issue of Welsh Country but Anglesey looks at it from a slightly different perspective and p[repares to commenorate the event.

Strata Florida is 14 miles from Aberystwyth and has a beautiful position just outside the village of Pontrhydfendigaid near Tregaron. In Welsh it is Ystrad Fflur, which means the Vale of Flowers.
It is neat, well -tended and atmospheric. It is the perfect example of a romantic ruin - an Abbey with a tantalising suggestion of just how important a place it once was. The arch which once framed the west door calls you in It has become an iconic image of the historical heritage of Wales.

The Lure of Gowerland

When I am searching around in the neglected undergrowth of the past, researching my grave stories, I come across other things sometimes that I just can't resist. Newspaper items and reports. And you realise that things haven't changed a great deal. Take the celebrity interview.
Meaningless questions, meaningless answers, all in the cause of publicity. All that effort devoted to something instantly disposable and instantly forgotten. And it is not a new phenomenon. I found a wonderful example in The Cambrian newspaper from 1930.
It is an interview with the actress Gwen Wyndham, the "vivacious little lady," who was promoting her play "Sorry You've Been Troubled".

On Saturday 20 June 2009 at 2pm. Central Library, The Civic Centre, Swansea

I shall be presenting an illustrated talk about the book to a local history group. Admission free.

Updates on Eleanor Williams. When I look at the stories I have written so far I am convinced that some of them will never be finished. There are always new and important details to be added. Time has frayed the details sometimes and it isn't easy to restore them in their entirety. The tales are not complete and probably never will be. It is part of their attraction I suppose. I was made aware of this a few weeks ago when I had new information from a direct descendant of the murderer Henry Tremble that added to my understanding of his actions. I reported this new information on my own website, www.storiesinwelshstone.co.uk. (See the blog entry 20 April 2009 - Henry Tremble)
Well, I have had more fascinating information today (26 May 2009). I started the day with a radio interview on our local station Swansea Sound. They only wanted five minutes from me so it was over very quickly and so I went off to the Central Library to meet the convenor of a local history group, Marilyn Jones. They have asked me to speak on Saturday 20 June 2009 and I wanted to look at the room where I will be speaking. I was completely reassured. Not only does it have an inter-active whiteboard but also an absolutely fantastic view across the bay to Mumbles, so if the audience get bored when I am talking at least they will be able to take in the view.

On Tuesday 26 May 2009 at 11.45 am
I am doing an interview on Swansea Sound radio station about my book "Stories in Welsh Stone."

Thursday 5 November 2009 at 2.30 pm.  Newport Central Library

I shall be presenting my next illustrated talk in Newport Central Library. I will give an overview of my book Stories in Welsh Stone and then look at some chapters in detail. I will then end by talking about some examples of my more recent work with a specific Newport focus. Hope to see you there!

The address is

Lending Library
John Frost Square
Newport
NP20 1PA

Wednesday 3 June 2009 at 7.15 pm.  Chepstow Drill Hall
I shall be presenting an illustrated talk about Stories in Welsh Stone for the Chepstow Bookshop.

Tickets are £2.

As well as talking about stories from Volume One I will also be featuring two "local stories" - Henry Marten from Chepstow and John Renie from Monmouth.

Finding not only the time, but the space to write about The Royal Charter disaster

It has been a busy time recently. My day job is a demanding one and, quite rightly I suppose, but it means that I can't devote as much to my writing as I would like. I need to maintain my blogs which are scattered far and wide, and service my own website, which always demands new material. All these things need to be done before I can do something new. It seems to me that the more I get involved in the marketing of Volume 1 the less time I seem to have in which to write Volume 2.
Of course I am always planning ahead. The piece for July has been submitted to the magazine. It is about Louisa Maud Evans, the 14 year old parachute fatality from Cardiff. This was a fascinating story and quite straightforward. Things are more complicated now. I am working on my story for September - and it is a big one; the wreck of The Royal Charter in October 1859.

We intend to recognise the 150th anniversary of the sinking in Welsh Country Magazine.
All the records went down with the ship in a hurricane off Anglesey, but it is believed that 450 people perished just 25 yards from the beach at Moelfre. Unbelievable. The ship was returning from Australia and was full of gold. And parrots apparently.
The graves of the victims are scattered all over the north side of Anglesey and you get a sense of a little bit of history that lies just below the surface of our own lives waiting to be re-discovered. Charles Dickens went there in December 1859 to write about the remarkable part played by the local Rector Stephen Roose Hughes in the weeks and months following the disaster. I am already twitchy about my writing. Dickens is definitely a tough act to follow.
There is so much to write about. It was a huge event - the greatest loss of life in any shipwreck on the Welsh coast. The problem I have is trimming what I have written to fit in to the magazine's requirements. Of course it isn't a problem for any book in which The Royal Charter might feature, so the research won't be wasted. But now I have written it I am having a tough time trying to select things to leave out.
Of course I want to do justice to the event because it's a significant anniversary and I believe that the people of Anglesey want to mark it with proper respect, especially in Moelfre and in Llanallgo where many of the bodies were taken.
And then suddenly I am reminded that the sort of writing I do is not just a pleasure and a hobby. It is a duty too.