I wouldn’t take focus off @Iestyn on this thread for anything of this World, but one sentence in @hewrop’s post was so tempting to be a bit naughty … 
I needed the distraction from my explossion from inwrads out as just a minute before I posted one made me really angry.
Well, however … @CatrinLliarJones smuggle @aran somewhere into that “Seren yr Wythnos” plan for us, will you? (shhh … he doesn’t need to know …)
Glad for this subject. If it weren’t for Iestyn’s welcoming voice at the start of every lesson, I would never have learned Welsh. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me learn this beautiful language.
Hey, it’s Friday!
And it’s blowing a gale and raining here, and our chalet is in bits and pieces, and Catrin is ignoring the doctor and taking her tonsillitis off to pull bits of the chalet ceiling down with her sister. I don’t think we’re going to get a Growth Club recording done today (but we’ll do extra next week!).
But if it’s Friday, it’s Seren yr Wythnos time…
And there was, of course, one person I spoke to about the idea for SSiW before Iestyn…
Seren yr Wythnos #2
Catrin Lliar Jones
I can still remember floating the idea to Catrin, a little nervously, as we sat on a small wickerwork sofa in the bedsit we were living in (made out of a converted pigsty on her sister’s smallholding). I can literally still see the colours of the sofa…
I was a little nervous for two reasons. First, I’d been going on about trying to build a Spanish course - I’d even got as far as talking to an entrepreneurial friend of mine, and he’d floated the idea to some friends of his who invested in early stage companies, and they’d all said ‘No way, it’s far too competitive a market’. Catrin wasn’t very fond of the idea either - partly because of the second reason, which was that we were stony broke and sinking into debt, technically homeless, and I’d been gradually cutting my own salary and hours as CEO of the lobbying organisation Cymuned.
Catrin was increasingly keen for me to get a proper job. And I’d even put a handful of applications in - so I wasn’t sure how she’d react to me getting distracted by something else…
She looked at me, smiled, and said ‘This is the best idea you’ve had. This is the right thing for you to be doing.’
That spark of fire and enthusiasm was the beginning of it all. If she’d said ‘Will you please just keep looking for work?’ I wouldn’t have been able to refuse - we had a child on the way, after all. Her belief in me, at a time when it would have been hard for anyone else to find many good reasons to believe in me, was what made it all happen.
And she’s never wavered - whatever happened, as we fought our way slowly out of the worst of the debt, as we gave up sleep for the first five years or so of the kids, as we faced the ups and downs of trying to build something that really worked, as she tried to find a path through life for herself - she’s been there, throwing herself into recordings (however cold the studio!), organising parties and Eisteddfod stands, double-checking that what I’m suggesting sounds natural (about a million times and counting), welcoming dozens and dozens of lovely learners to our home with friendliness, endless enthusiasm and usually lots of food…
We met on the Welsh language dating site Pishyn.com (which I’d love to see revived one of these days!). Our first date was at the Anglesey pub in Caernarfon. Apparently, when she got back from the date she phoned her sister and said she’d met the man she was going to marry.
That date was, without question, the luckiest day of my life… 
#***#
How about you?
What have you appreciated most about Catrin over the years?
What difference has she made to you?
Let’s give her a chance to see how much she really matters…
Iestyn ap Dafydd
Catrin Lliar Jones
Cat Dafydd
Dee McCarney
Spenny
Jeff Lewis
Ifan Baines
Well the obvious answer is she’s beaten me to saying many a welsh phrase on all the courses.
But her diction and clarity have helped immensely.
Oh, and as i recall her warmth and friendliness at yours were lovely. And if my memory serves me correctly, made some delicious cakes too
@CatrinLliarJones was the voice that has guided me through so much of this minefield of learning a language.
She has been an ever inspiring source of positivity on this forum (sparking many to question whether they were doing enough to support their co-learners). She has brighten many a day of mine with her family updates and car conversations on the way home from school.
She welcomed my fiancée and I into her home, a privilege I do not underestimate or take lightly. Wonderful hospitality!
I look forward to seeing you all again soon. Hopefully at the Eisteddfod!!
Lovely voice, clear and natural! @CatrinLliarJones don’t let them tell you that when you pronounce things naturally,it’s your pulpit accent! Everyone tries their very best in the pulpit, so what is wrong with that! This aged dragon much appreciates your example of how to be a gog with no Liverpool influence! You sound as if you can and do breathe!
That date was, without question, the luckiest day of my life…
Llawer mwy na ti sy’n lwcus, cyfaill. I think the whole SSi community are lucky to have her as a key member of the Fab 4. Her commitment to her mother-tongue and, if I may say, her commitment to you, Aran, is frequently evident. I am often moved by her forum posts which restore us to a calm and caring norm.
As a valleys boy, I have not followed Aran’s and Catrin’s lessons, but I have processed many hours of their raw voice files. The problem I used to have with Catrin is that her dreamy, melodic voice often made me lose concentration 
. I have referred to her beautiful singing voice ( this could be a required qualification of future sêr) elsewhere.
I have often met Catrin and her lucky husband at bootcanps, eisteddfodau and social events and have learned what an interesting and gifted woman she is. I look forward to catching up with her again at this year’s birthday party and getting her to sign my copy of “O Mam Bach”
@CatrinLliarJones
Northern voice of SSiW who I don’t follow doing southern course but still … I’m curious enough to peer into “forbidden” meterial with one single question - how does gog side of the SSiW sound? Gentle, clear and VERY UNDERSTANDABLE voice and much more. If @Iestyn in southern course is invitingly demanding to do more and more Catrin’s voice says “listen” and repeat. I’ll say it twice, three, 4 times if neccessary …Kind and patient she must be …
Excellent story reader/teller and writter especially when she reads her own stories. I’d love there’d be more audio books narated by her and many more stories written by her aswell. Her dreams are (as we’ve read in another thread) to be the writer so the dreams should finally come true!
Passionate photographer with high quality photos I admire every time I see them published on her FB profile being those of kids or nature around her. Her photos show she loves nature very much and this is what makes her even more special as she already is.
Great singer with lovely voice one could listen to over and over again.
All this and more she is.
I met her breefly at the Eisteddfod last year and we didn’t spoke much apart from greeting each-other so I can’t say I really know her but I feel love and carring attitude toward people and nature radiating out of her in all directions and from everything she does (apart from being irritated when she isn’t well ).
As much as @aran can be lucky he has her by his side that much we should be lucky and thankful she’s here for SSiW community doing enormous difference with her presence, attitude, and all she does for SSiW.
And yes … (as I’ve said) she has a beautiful voice …
(I hope you don’t mind Aran and Catrin, I’ve used this recording, but here’s one more great voice this lovely community has to have the chance to hear! CHIERS! (and I didn’t have the priviledge to make my own recording of her singing ))
All the best Catrin in whatever you do!
You do have a bit of a knack for this kind of thing, @tatjana!
I guess I can only second all of that for now… but really looking forward to getting to know @CatrinLliarJones for real at bootcamp in April!!
Thank you @netmouse, but this is not me … this is my speaking. I could say more or better way but words just aren’t enough …
Catrin is the obvious choice for star of the week, she’s the voice that I copied to try to reach my dream of having a Gwynedd/Llŷn accent, I don’t think I’ll ever get there but it certainly helped me with pronunciation.
I remember one night during my first bootcamp sitting on the floor upstairs in the living room while everyone else was deep in conversation around me, I was feeling very lonely in a room full of people, feeling a bit shell shocked if I was honest, when Catrin came and sat cross legged in front of me and coerced me into a conversation about nothing much that pulled me back into the room. Her compliments seemed very genuine and sincere, I felt the confidence coming back. She helped me through some dark times on my bootcamps and I will always be grateful for that.
All that or her willingness to make a cake at the drop of a hat.
Yeah, the cake thing.
May I say, @CatrinLliarJones that I admire the fact that you can make cakes just like that!! Our WI patted me on the head (metaphorically speaking) and said, “Never mind, you have other talents”!! But you, Catrin, can write to professional standards and run a home and…well, do anything I ever could and cook as well!!!
What a lovely tribute @aran has written! Since I’m doing the Southern lessons, my knowledge of Catrin is pretty much only from her posts on the forum. But from those, it’s easy to see what a genuinely nice, caring, warm and courageous person she is, and how much she cares about her family, her community, and the SSiW community. Thanks to @tatjana, I can hear what a gorgeous voice she has, too! Diolch yn fawr iawn iawn, @CatrinLliarJones, for all the support you give to Aran and to all of us!
(Now, if only I could have some of that cake… 
)
Yes, Catrin’s lovely clear voice has been endlessly encouraging for this northern learner, and less scary than Aran’s.
But the thing that has impressed me most about her is her almost apologetic (‘I hope you don’t mind me asking?’) thread on this forum: ‘What do you do for a living?’ Her searingly honest account of her life to date, has resulted in an outpouring of responses that I find truly remarkable. It takes courage to be so open, in a medium notorious for nastiness, that people feel safe enough to tell their own life stories. I’m so glad, Catrin, that you are finding new and positive directions, and I won’t be surprised to learn that your story has encouraged others to take stock and change direction. Thank you.
[I’ve done two forbidden things in order to reply to this - sloped off from the Wales-France rugby match, and written in English during an unofficial mini-bootcamp…]
Ah, Catrin! I’ve actually been meaning to write the following for some time, now; but this seems like the perfect opportunity.
Although we’ve never met, Catrin is my beautiful island in a rough sea. From day one, not just the accent, but her voice itself reminded me SO much of my lovely aunties speaking Welsh around me as a child. She has that perfect, clear soprano speaking voice that just makes me feel surrounded by family and calms me if I’m ever feeling stressed. (Literally - I’ll do a SSiW lesson when I’m stressed just to have Catrin talk to me!)
She’s also my accent go-to. When Aran says something new in a lesson that makes me think “That doesn’t sound like the way I remember hearing that word.”, I’ve learned to just wait for Catrin. Nine times out of ten, she says it the way I expected it to sound; so, I just follow her. (No offense, Aran - you’re brilliant!)
I wish you SO much luck with your new writing career, Catrin! As soon as I’m finished the work month from hell, I’ll be buying your book. That’s my reward to myself for getting through it.
I have had the pleasure of meeting Catrin twice and both times she was really warm and welcoming to me . I really admire her passion and commitment to the Welsh language and her family . She strikes me as a person who would do anything to help anyone . It was interesting to hear about the pre SSIW days and how Aran and Catrin met. I really think that some things are meant to be in life and Aran and Catrin getting together , and setting up SSIW is definitely one of them .
I first met Catrin on the lawn outside a cafe in Llanystumdwy. She patiently minded the kids while Aran chatted to this eager new Aussie learner. Another time, she let five of us SSiWers gate crash a family beach day and monolpolise her husband once again. I think it must be a bit like being a vicar’s wife. I appreciate Catrin’s willingness and support for SSiW without which, I wouldn’t be a Welsh speaker.
I managed to make it to the first SSiW “birthday” party in 2012. I am generally a somewhat shy person (I know, you can’t believe that, but it’s true) so I had arranged to stay with @hewrop who was a wonderful host and acted as “introducer” while I was there. During the party, after we had eaten, I was sitting alone at the table (everyone else up and milling about) and Catrin made a point of stopping by and chatting with me. I was really too shy to say much in Welsh, but that lovely gesture has stayed with me ever since. I hope I’ll get a chance to visit with Aran, Catrin and family (at least for a bit) when we’re back in Wales in May/June.
I was just thinking this morning what a lovely voice Catrin has (not that yours Aran is horrible or anything!). I’m looking forward to meeting her at bootcamp as she’s been with me the way to work every day for the past year or so. And also helped to make the six hour tedious car journey from Norfolk to North Wales and back a really useful learning experience. Dw i wedi dysgu llawer o Gymraeg ar hyd y ffordd!
I like to think that I was extremely brave to put myself up against her dulcet tones…