See below Coleg Harlech or, to give it its original name,  Plas Wernfawr, a house originally built in 1907–08. and designed in Arts and Crafts style by the radical architect George Henry Walton. The building together with the terraces walls of the garden on the seaward side is a Grade II listed building. The forecourt and garden structures on the inland side are also listed Grade II. 

Plas Wernfawr became Cymru's only long-term, mature-student residential education college in 1927 and was unique in that it offered bursary funded two yr  residential courses to mature students from a working class background who had missed out on a chance to study full time due to their social or economic circumstances

By the1990s, Coleg Harlech, once funded as a unique institution in Cymru, came under the same funding regime as other further education colleges, it had always had a strong association with the WEA and in 2001 it became CHWEAN (Coleg Harlech Workers' Eductional Association North Wales)  and subsequently evolved into Adult Learning Wales until it was sold by that body in April  2019 to businessman Leslie Banks Irvine who has since re-sold the whole site in four lots apart from the Halls of Residence which had been sold previously to an English company. See my earlier blog post for full info in regards to that sale.

When it was announced that the Coleg Harlech site was to be put on sale for the first  time in 2019, Adult Learning Wales chief executive Kathryn Robson said: "It is heartbreaking that we have to take the decision to sell the property, but the name of Coleg Harlech and all it stands for continues, as we provide life-changing opportunities for many adult learners in Gwynedd and thousands more throughout Wales"

She continued...

"We will continue the good work and positive legacy for second-chance education which has been the life-blood of Coleg Harlech for the past 90 years"

And...

"We are working with Cyngor Gwynedd Council, Snowdonia National Park Authority, Visit Wales and Cadw to secure a strong future for the buildings, and we are hopeful that we can deliver on this."

But now, we find that the Coleg Harlech site has been sold again including the historic Plas Wern fawr Grade II listed building which sold for a measly £230,000 which included the majestic theatre and library.  (See link below the pic)  

See in link a BBC Cymru film which boasts lavish reburbishment of Neuadd pantycelyn and compare with the films we have seen of Coleg Harlech in its current sad state: 

  https://www.facebook.com/bbccymrufyw/videos/1042967452809673

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm delighted that Neuadd Pantcelyn has been saved for our nation and that it will continue to be the hall of Residence for Cymric speaking students at Aberystwyth but, I would like to know exactly WHY Neuadd Pantycelyn is considered to be more important to save than Coleg Harlech?

For starters, Neuadd Pantycelyn is a Hall or Residence and there are many Halls of Residences for students at Aberystwyth, many old and many new being constantly built and any one of those could have homed the Cymric speaking students. Neuadd Pantycelyn is not the WHOLE college complex and, unlike Coleg Harlech, it was not the WHOLE college complex which was in danger in Neuadd Pantycelyn's case - and yet, it was saved and renovated at a vast cost of £16.5m whilst the WHOLE of the Coleg Harlech complex, including the historic grade II listed Plas Wernfawr, Library Theatre, Halls of Residence and recreation halls were abandoned and allowed to be sold off for peanuts! WHY?

WHERE'S THE JUSTICE FOR THE UNDER PRIVILEGED WORKING CLASS OF OUR NATION! Do not ALL the citizens of our nation deserve a chance to be educated and enabled to seek and find their vocation in life?

Those that have the financial support of parents to stay in school until they sit exams to achieve the qualifications they need to get to colleges and universities will have that chance but what about those who will not be that blessed? Coleg Harlech was in existance for such people but, due to the unthinking recklessness of those in power that are where they are because we put them there to protect our interests, we witness the 'wholesale selling off' of our interests and any hope that the working class of our nation have of utilizing such interests. 

There is no justice in saving and renovating one Halls or Residence at a cost of £16.5m whilst standing by and allowing a whole college complex to fall to disrepair and eventually be sold for peanuts and we should all be asking WHY? would the fact that Charles Windsor had spent 3 months at Neuadd Pantycelyn have anything to do with it? We will never know will we but, Kirsty williams, the Education Secretary at the Cymric Senedd stated at the grand re-opening of the luxurious new Pantycelyn Halls of Residence that...

"Neuadd Pantycelyn is an iconic building within the Welsh-speaking community and has been part of the fabric of the language locally for decades, as well as being a cauldron of talent for students who go on to play an important role in Wales and internationally.

“As part of our goal to achieve a million Welsh speakers by 2050, we want to develop post-compulsory education which supports people to develop Welsh language skills for use both socially and throughout their careers".   https://www.wales247.co.uk/pantycelyn-welcomes-new-generation-of-students/   

There's nobody that wants the language of my nation to thrive more than myself but, to claim that the Cymric speaking 'Etonians' that go through the Pantycelyn Halls of Residence is going to play a crucial part in this Kirsty...really? Can you really predict how many of these Cymric speaking students will go back to their native Cymric communities throughout Cymru to live and work and bring up Cymric speaking families? Because, that is what will need to happen if they are to play an important part in the growth and survival of our language. Using the language to socialise and work in Crachach bubbles in Caerdydd or London will not save our language and whereas I'm happy that Pantycelyn has been saved and refurbished for use by Cymric speaking students, please do not claim that such was done "as part of the Welsh Government's goal to achieve a million Cymric speakers by the year 2050.

We have reached a stage in our nation's history where we are witnessing dramatic changes that is getting way out of our control. Our heavy industries have been 'systematically' shut down as have many of our other industries that used to provide our Cymric people with a living wage that would allow them to live and bring up families in their communities. We are now in an age of high technology that only opens up the doors of opportunity for a minority of our population as is the case in the growing field of Leisure and tourism - which is low paid and seasonal anyway on the whole.. The majority find themselves in a hopeless situation with two options open to them, leave their community and homeland to seek work elsewhere or, stay and live in poverty on benefits, with little or no hope of employment and certainly no hope of buying their own home. This situation has for many decades now resulted in many opting to leave in search of work and a better quality of life for their families, and this growing 'exodus' of Cymry has resulted in an abundance of empty properties being snapped up as holiday homes by outsiders, who bring with them their own language and culture - and now, we see outsiders buying newly built as well as old properties in Cymru so that they can move here on a permanent basis to escape a crime and covid-19 ridden England. 

 Add to the above, our land and forestries being bought up wholesale by capitalist companies to develop or to use as chips on worldwide stock markets, along with 'One Planet Development' colonialism assisted by our own Welsh Government, we witness the dismal reality of a nation facing genocide and for Kirsty Williams and the Welsh Assembly to try and 'pull the wool over our eyes' that we will have a million Cymric speakers by 2050 is total 'humbug' unless they begin, in earnest' to do what they were voted in by us to do, and that is to safeguard our nation, its people, language and culture and put policies in place that will assist our nation to thrive and not die! 

 The only way that Cymru as an entity can be saved is for our Welsh Government to invest in our communities - and I'm not talking about investing millions, as they are currently doing, in safeguarding and renovation of the Anglo Norman castles so that visitors to them can have an enhanced experience of the 'symbolisms' of our occupation', I'm talking about serious investment in training and in creating 'real jobs' in all our Cymric communities so that they CAN thrive and survive and, If they can contribute £5m to save a student halls of residence in Aberystwyth, they should be expected to, at the least, re-purchase Coleg Harlech so that it can be put to good use again to educate and train the majority of our Cymric people, the dispossesed working class, in all skills needed to get our nation back on its feet in a post brexit, post covid 19 Cymru.  

we, the working class of Cymru, knowing what we know now about the way that our Welsh Government is able to spend money,  should make an ever more determined effort to enforce the Welsh Government to re-purchase Coleg Harlech  and totally refurbish it for the use of the working class of our nation.  The working class are the majority that has built the nation that we have all inherited through hard labour for little rewards and they, and our nation, deserve a first chance to thrive. If £16.5m can be found to re-furbish a halls of residence then a similar sum can be found to re-purchase, refurbish and get Coleg Harlech up and running again so, get everybody you know - worldwide to sign this petition, lets get way over the 5000 needed to get it discussed in the Welsh Government chamber.  Sign and pass on... LET'S MAKE A COLEG HARLECH STAND FOR THE WORKING CLASS POPULATION OF CYMRU!  

https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/200218   

This has been going on since, at the least, 2008  and continues to go on whilst indigenous Cymry are unable to financially compete for plots of land or houses in their homeland. So, the indigenous Cymry are reduced to having to settle for either private or housing associations rented properties to live if they wish to stay in their homeland whilst the wealthy outsiders, be they private buyers, capitalist developers or 'eco syndicates' have easy pickings of Cymric land and properties assisted by policies and grants from the Welsh government!

So, having had my eyes opened wide to how many outsiders are assisted to re-locate to Cymru via the One Planet Development Scheme and the TAN 6 policy, I felt strongly that the policy had to change so that only Cymric Indigenous communities could take advantage of it to form syndicates to buy land to build sustainable homes and ventures, such as the 'Hu Gadarn Ventures', in their own land, so, I penned a petition requesting that the Welsh Government change the TAN6 policy to that effect. The petition was rejected on the grounds outlined below:

  Rejected petition

Annwyl Tîm Deisebau’r Senedd,

Heriaf eich penderfyniad i beidio a chyhoeddi ‘r ddeiseb yn gofyn i’r Senedd newid y polisi TAN 6 i’w wneud yn gymwys i gymunedau Cymreig brodorol yn unig am y resymau canlynol:

Y Senedd sydd yn gyfrifol am y polisi

2.  Mae polisi TAN 6, fel mae’n sefyll,  yn  hudo  lluoedd o mewnfudwyr i mewnfudo i gefn gwlad Cymru a manteisio ar y cymorth ariannol sydd i’w gael drwy’r polisi. Does dim polisi fel TAN 6 ar gael yn Lloegr. Felly, mae’r polisi TAN 6 sydd yn un o bolisiau 'TAN'  Llywodraeth Cymru yn anffarfiol i hil y Cymry brodorol sy’n methu’n glir a chystadlu am dŷ na thir yn eu gwlad eu hunain. Mae hyn yn golygu bod Llywodraeth Cymru drwy eu  polisi TAN 6  yn methu yn eu cyfrifoldeb  warchod tir Cymru rhag cael ei gipio gan ddiethriaid ac oherwydd, heriaf eich penderfyniad i  beidio a derbyn a chyhoeddi’r ddeiseb i hynny newid.

Annwyl Petitions Committee, 

I challenge your decision not to publish the petition requesting that the Welsh Government changes the TAN 6 policy so that it can only be applicable to indigenous Cymric communities only, for the following reasons.

1. It is a Welsh Government policy so it is the Welsh Government's responsibility.

2.The TAN 6 policy, as it stands, attracts armies of 'incomers' to relocate to Cymru as they can take advantage of grants awarded through the TAN 6 policy to build their eco homes. There is no TAN 6 policy or similar in England so, this policy, a Welsh Government policy, is disadvantageous to the indigenous Cymry who cannot compete for land or a home in their own land. This means that the Welsh Government, through their TAN 6 policy, are failing in their duty to protect Cymric land from being grabbed by outsiders. So, I challenge your decision to accept and publish the petition to enable a change in the policy.

Yn gywir

Sian Ifan

In my last post, please read if you havent already done so, I pointed out how the government of the province of Bolzano in Italy has banned both foreigners and Italians from buying holiday homes in the area. Second homes can only be bought by residents who have spent five years living in the region, or those who work locally.

Bolzano, is one example that has done it right in order to protect their community from outside invasion and Guernsey is another location with safeguard policies in place, In St Ives, Cernyw, 2nd homes are not allowed and neither are they in the Lake District and, in East Riding Yorkshire, there is a 500% council tax imposed on 2nd homes and Northumberland have banned new 2nd homes altogether! But, in Cymru, rather than be protected by Welsh Government policies, we are driven towards our genocide as a nation because of them!

The aforementioned petition that the Welsh Government rejected was designed to change the TAN 6 policy to make it applicable to Indigenous Cymric communities only, it was rejected so, its quite clear that the Welsh Government is not working in the interest of Cymru and the indigenous Cymry. The Welsh Government is campaigning to have a further 30 members! they must be having a laugh! Imagine how much extra that would cost the tax payer with all the extra clerks, researchers, aides, secretaries etc on top of the 1000's already employed in the "sham shop" as the 'back up operatives' to the elected members! NO, NO, NO...the campaign that's needed is not for further members for a 'NOT SUITABLE FOR PURPOSE' Government in Bae Caerdydd but for decentralizing the powers from that Welsh Government to the hands of local authorities who know their communities and people so that they can then act on priorities that's suited for the benefit of their communities and people.

England has had a 'Localism Act' in place since 2010 and the guide which can be viewed in the link below is well worth reading and can be used as a template for a similar act for Cymru. In fact, Cymru could become Independent through this act. Each local authority would be autonomous on all decision making associated with their local authority. This would make it much easier for communities to communicate with their local authority and would be in a better position to assure that their local authority is open and transparent in all they do.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/5959/1896534.pdf

The "Sham Assembly has been in place for over 20yrs, had we had a Localism Act in place for this period, we would be well in control of our housing issues now and would NOT have lost our 'crown jewels' such as Plas Glynllifon and Coleg Harlech Colleges,

So, let's forget campaigning for 30 more "sham Senedd" members, let's immediately campaign for a CYMRIC LOCALISM ACT throughout Cymru, this campaign could be led by each local authority throughout Cymru via their local authority council members. LET'S DO IT!

When we look at the serious land and property crises that Cymru is in, with acres and acres of land and properties being bought by outside developers and syndicates on a massive scale along with the holiday home problem - which has now escalated to a new development, where waves of outsiders are buying properties to live in all year round in their bid to escape from a crime and covid-19 ridden England; plus extensive Housing Association Developments and their policies in regards to housing outsiders, and schemes such as the Welsh Government's 'Moving North Wales Forward' plan https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2017-09/north-east-wales-metro-moving-north-wales-forward.pdf, we are clearly being assimilated out of existence as Cymry and the fabric of our nation is being torn to shreds with Cymric place names of our villages and homes that once were, being changed into English.

Where does Plaid Cymru "The Party of Wales" stand in all this? They have 10 members in the "sham Senedd" in Bae Caerdydd and their silence in regards to the TAN policies such as TAN 6 and 8, that are destructing our nation is deafening! Their leader in the "Sham Senedd", Adam Price, did recently try to speak up on the need to seek reparation for stolen Cymric land and resources over the centuries but, he meekly backed down and 'apologised' for suggesting such when bullied by his colleagues!

Then, we have the Yes Cymru Movement who claim to have 30,000 paid up members? How many of these have signed my other petition for the Welsh Government to re-purchase Coleg Harlech? They have had great, well attended parades in Caerdydd, Merthyr Tudfil and Caernarfon - and I applaud them for that - and then, of course, the parading came to a halt due to the pandemic restrictions but, I would really like to know what kind of 'Independence' they are marching for? The introduction on their objects page states...

" YesCymru believes in an inclusive citizenship, which embraces the fact that all who choose to make Wales their home – regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation – are full citizens of the new Wales"

Going by that opening statement, the question need to be poised, how many of the 30,000 paid up members claimed by YesCymru are Cymry? We need an honest answer to that because, if they are embracing all newcomers who choose to make Cymru their home then, I'm afraid they are part of the problem! We are not in a situation to be that benevolent! You have only to see what's happening with the Tan 6 policy and the One Planet Development scheme to see how it works. A syndicate of families come and they attract more families, communities are set up and Cymric communities are lost - for ever. Then, there are the other in migrants of various varieties aforementioned and if it continues, we will have nothing left to fight for Independence for!

I, have to state it, for too much is at stake for me not to:

I believe that both Plaid Cymru and the leaders of the YesCymru campaign are very aware to 'which way the wind is blowing' in Cymru and, that we will not win back our Independence or sovereignty as a nation but, they are campaigning for what will suit them as outlined in the YesCymru constitution and that is a Cymru that has 'Dominion Status within the U.K ...

As Yes Cymru states in its constitution:

"YesCymru believes that the two issues of independence and the monarchy are best kept separate. Some who support Welsh Independence, or are indy-curious, may be in favour of keeping the monarchy, whilst others are staunch republicans. One proposal is that the monarchy could be maintained after independence through adopting ‘Dominion’ status, following the historical precedent of countries such as Australia and Canada (where the Queen remains the head of state)."

What about Cymric Sovereignty?

Then the paragraph continues..."   If we did retain the monarchy, even temporarily, the relationship between Wales and the crown would be different, post-independence. Welsh land that is currently owned by the royal family – the Crown Estate – would transfer to the control of the Welsh Government. In 2017-18"

GET REAL YESCYMRU!  Do you really believe that the powers that be and the royal family would just hand over the Crown Estates and all its assets to Cymru ?

There is a lot about economic development and grants etc in the YesCymru maniffesto also  but, I question for whose benefit?. I, for one, am not interested in getting a further 30 members in that "Sham Senedd" or in providing hundreds of additional aide, clerk and secretarial jobs in there for the CRACHACH of Caerdydd whether they be Cymry or incomers. Nor am I interested in a watered down Independence that has Dominion status but no sovereignty and neither am I interested in any Independence that is going to be filling the pockets of the 'luvvies', that have not shown a grain of interest in the Cymric Independence cause in the past but are now seen to be flooding to support and march with YesCymru in the hope of getting some grants and gigs. And Plaid Cymru, who has avoided the "I" word for decades is now fully in support in the hope that they are assured all these extra YESCYMRU votes in the upcoming local and general elections.

I, for one, wish to see a fully Independent Sovereign Cymru with full control over the destiny of its communities and people assisted by a Localism Act that can assure that the Cymry have the means and the equal rights to be able to purchase their home and thrive economically in their own community or in any part of Cymru if they wish to. I don't want the prevailing situation to continue where they are forced into council or housing association reservations with no other choice as is happening to the indigenous peoples of America and Palestine and many other places in this world..

My call to Cymru is to forget any elections for further members for that "Sham Senedd" in Bae Caerdydd and I call upon Plaid Cymru, the WNP, YesCymru, and GWLAD GWLAD to unite together in a NATIONAL LAND AND LIBERTY STRUGGLE before there is none of neither left. The spotlight should be on campaigning for a LOCALISM ACT for Cymru so that such policies as the TAN 6 and 8 and the ODP policies can be bought under the control of each local authority. The NATIONAL LAND AND LIBERTY STRUGGLE will also campaign for the return of stolen lands' and for reparation for the loss of minerals and other resources such as water.

To end, the TAN 8 policy sanctioned the planting of gigantic windmills all over Cymru and we in a group called 'ADFEDDIANT CYMRU campaigned against such. The following YouTube film is of Gethin ap Gruffydd delivering a campaigning speech on Mynydd y Gwair, 'stolen land' near Abertawe. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmu9Y3NQ0p4

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