Bro - Llannerch-Y-Medd
Pigion Bro
- Pigion Bro
This week's Bro takes Shân and Iolo to the quiet village of Llannerch-y-Medd in the heart of Anglesey. Once a bustling town famous for its shoemakers and flour mills, the town was home to an important cattle mart transporting livestock across Wales and the North of England. Shân and Iolo discover the fascinating history of the area and meet some of the local people who give the modern village its distinctive character.
Beth Cowell - Anglesey Drag Hound Hunting Society
Originally from Buckley in Flintshire, Beth Cowell is the chair of the Anglesey Drag Hound Hunting Society, and lives in the Llangefni area. She is a lecturer in Media Studies at the Menai College campus. She started drag hunting some fifteen years ago when her daughters began to take horse-riding lessons. The group meet most Saturdays from the middle of September untill January to hunt, and Shân joins them on a hunt day to see what they get up to.
Gwen McCreadie - Deri Môn
A farmer’s wife, Gwen McCreadie is married to Scottish-born David and runs a B&B on their farm as well as a shop where they sell their smoked produce. Their specialised smoking machine is situated in one of the farm buidings and is operated by David and a team of two others who help with the smoking process.
The smokery was established about six years ago when a friend of the family asked to store the smoking machine on the farm. Gwen and David started to experiment with the machine and they went on to set up their thriving business. Iolo calls in to hear more about their business venture, and to taste some of their smoked produce.
Brian and Ffiona Thomas - Beef Direct
Brian and Ffiona Thomas are the owners of Beef Direct; a meat-production company based in Llannerch-y-Medd. Brian is from a long-line of farmers going back centuries. He and his 88-year-old father, OG Thomas, rear Welsh Black Cattle on the farm.
Ffiona and Brian have a meat-processing unit on Plas Coedana Farm and they sell their meat to local businesses, as well as travel all over the north west to sell their produce in farmers markets.
Shân calls in at Plas Coedana farm to chat to Brian Thomas.
Donald Glyn Pritchard - Historian
A retired head teacher of the local school, Donald Pritchard has lived in Llannerch-y-Medd since 1971 and his interest in history comes from his mother as she used to tell him stories when he was growing up. Donald takes Iolo on a historical journey through Llannerch-y-medd, starting at the Old Train Station which was one time the central place from which animals were transported from market to towns as far as Liverpool and Manchester. By now, no train lines remain, but the old station is in the process of being renovated in a project started by the local museum.
Iolo's journey ends on The Foel hill where two buildings stand on land belonged to the RAF in the Second World War. Soldiers slept in one of the buildings and the other served as a radio tower to guide American aeroplanes on their journey from America and Canada through Greenland and on to Anglesey at Mona airport from where they would move on to England and Europe.
Geraint Jones
As she walks the streets of Llannerch-y-Medd, Shân meets local poet, Geraint Jones - who has written a special verse for her and the Bro programme.
John Llewelyn Pritchard and the Amlwch Lions
Shân gets the chance to meet John Llewelyn Pritchard and the Amlwch Lions disabled football team.
Men and women from 15-40 come from all over Anglesey to practice with the team. The vast majority of them have learning rather than physical disabilities. There are two disabled classes who train together but play separately at tournaments. They compete in the New Festival League with six other disabled teams across North Wales and take their turn to host the tournament.
Linda Jones
Linda Jones is quite a collector - of shoes!
Known locally as Linda'r 'Hafod', she competed at recitals in several eisteddfods and won. She now adjudicates at the Urdd and performs at various concerts and readings.
Linda has over thirty pairs of boots and close to a hundred pairs of shoes, all of which are stilettos. She wouldn't be seen dead in flats! She drives in three-inch heels and even her Wellingtons have stilettos on them. She wears her designer Burberry wellies to feed her Shetland ponies. Shân will be in her element as she discusses the collection of shoes with Linda.
Lloyd Jones – Melin Llynnon
Iolo visits Llynnon Mill, where he meets the miller Lloyd Jones. Melin Llynnon was a fully working mill until it was damaged by a severe storm in 1918. It then remained derelict until 1978, when the Council purchased the mill and spent the next eight years restoring it to its former glory. The experts that restored the mill trained Lloyd and after three years or so he had mastered his new trade as a miller. Lloyd has been the miller at Melin Llynnon for ten years now and employs four other people to help him produce stone-ground, organic wholemeal flour, using traditional methods. The flour, and occasionally bread, is sold to villagers and tourists but it is difficult to guarantee a supply to bakeries because of the manual production methods - and the wind of course. However, the mill produced five tonnes of flour last year.
Nia Thomas
Nia Thomas was brought up on a local farm in Llannerch-y-Medd and worked for a short period with the BBC in Aberystwyth and Cardiff but returned to Llannerch-y-Medd to live with her husband, Gwyndaf. She co-presents the early morning news programme, Post Cyntaf on Radio Cymru, every day from Bangor.
Iolo visits Nia's farm as she lets the geese out for the day, and to hear what' so special about the Llannerch-y-medd area.