Meeting of Friends in Wales

Dear Friends,

The next Meeting of Friends in Wales will be held virtually via Zoom on

Saturday, February 27th 9:30am-1pm (the Zoom room will be open from 9am).

Please note that the meeting invitation, including zoom details, will be shared with the full

agenda nearer to the date.

Morning session

The morning session will open with a period of silent worship. Following this, our guest speaker,

Mererid Hopwood will give a talk, titled ‘Y Dihangwr o’r Byddinoedd.’ For her title, Mererid has

borrowed a line from Waldo Williams’ important poem, ‘Mewn Dau Gae’ (‘In Two Fields’). During

the discussion, she will consider a handful of his poems that deal with the relationship between the

military forces and Wales. She will consider how the poems offer us an opportunity to be inspired by

Waldo’s ability to hold on to the light of hope and to keep faith in his sure knowledge that oppression

of any kind is not in keeping with the substance of humanity.

Mererid is Professor of Welsh and Celtic Studies in Aberystwyth University. She has won the Chair

and Crown for poetry and the Medal for prose at the National Eisteddfod. Writing is a passion for

Mererid, and she has collaborated with musicians, dancers and visual artists to bring words and art

forms of all kinds together. She is this year’s Hay Festival International Fellow, and she is looking

forward to talking to new audiences about Wales’s language and culture. She is a Fellow of the

Learned Society of Wales, secretary of Academi Heddwch Cymru and honorary president of the

Waldo Williams Society and the Movement for the Abolition of War.

Session after the break

The agenda for the second session will include routine business, and reports from our Trustees and the

Symud Ymlaen / Moving Forwards group.

In Friendship,

Laura Karadog (MFW Administrator)