Dechreuodd ein taith heddiw yng Nghanolfan Catrin Finch Wrecsam. Gan taw dyma’r tro cyntaf inni berfformio o flaen y torfeydd, ro’n i, yn sicr, ac o bosib Ali Sparkes, fy nghyd-sgribliwr, yn teimlo’r nerfau wrth aros i fynd ar lwyfan a wynebu’r rhesi ar resi o ddisgyblion oedd yn disgwyl cael eu diddanu.
Yn ffodus iawn i ni, roedd y bobol ifanc o’r amryw ysgolion oll (sef Ysgol Uwcheadd Argoed, Llanfyllin, Grango, Ysgol Uwchradd Gathig ac Anglicanaidd Sant Joseff ac Ysgol Darland) yn bobol glên a chroesawgar a wnaeth inni deimlo’n gartrefol ar unwaith yn eu cwmni. Tro Ali Sparkes oedd hi i fynd amdani yn gyntaf ac fe dreuliodd dri chwarter awr yn llawn o hwyl wrth adrodd ei stori ysbrydoledig am sut y daeth hi i fod yn awdur.
Yna daeth hi’n amser i mi baldaruo am dri chwarter awr. Yn ffodus rwyf wedi ceisio gweithio cyfleoedd i mewn i’r sesiwn lle gal y disgyblion gymryd rhan a pherchnogi’r orig, rhywbeth angenrheidiol wrth i fi rannu un o gyfrinachau mwyaf Cymru gyda nhw, sef y Gynghanedd!
Braf oedd clywed fod yr ymateb i ddysgu am ein cyfoeth llenyddol Cymraeg yn un cadarnhaol a fod y sesiwn wedi agor meddyliau pobol wrth feddwl an chqarae â geiriau, creu a chyfansoddi a pherthnasedd y Gymraeg i’w bywydau, boed yn medru ei siarad neu beidio.
Ymlaen nawr at Aberystwyth!
*****
Our tour started today in the Catrin Finch Centre, Wrexham. As this was our cery first performance on this year’s scribbler’s tour, i certainly, and possibly my fellow Scribbler, Ali Sparkes, felt the nerves before getting up on stage to perform.
Thankfully, the pupils from Argoed High School, Darland School, Grango, St Joseph’s Catholig and Anglican High School and Llanfyllin,were all a welcoming bunch that made us feel confortable in their presence. It was Ali Sparkes’ turn first and she wood the audience with her wirly-wirly props and her captivating story about how she became an author.
Then it was my turn to continue the proceedings. Thankfully, I had planned that the pupils would be able to participiate - a necessary element as we were engaging in the tough and long road of learning Cynghanedd! Poets in the middle ages would have to spend nine years learning the rules and improving their crafft. These young master poets had barely nine minutes!
It was encouraging to get some feedback after the show from pupils and teacher alike that stated that they enjoyed learning about out shared heritage in Wales, be they welsh speakers or not. And so the tour continues, onwards to Aberystwyth!
Hay Festival Scribblers Tour runs 3-14 February 2020. Explore the programme and find out more here. Aneirin Karadog is a poet, broadcaster, performer and linguist. He won the chair at the National Eisteddfod in Monmouthshire in 2016. He has been a presenter on Heno on S4C and was the Children's Poet of Wales. He was a rapper and a member of the bands Genod Droog and Diwygiad. He was brought up in Pontypridd but now lives in Pontyberem in the Gwendraeth Valley.