Blog Archives

Excavation at a Prehistoric Hill-fort Site ~ Dinas Dinlle

9/30/2021

A letter from 2021 Scholarship Recipient Megan Kimmelshue:

"Dear everyone at NAWF,
I hope you are well and wanted to update you as the summer draws to a close and the busy Autumn term gets into full swing next week. I received the scholarship check at our US address which will be paid towards my tuition balance at Bangor - diolch yn fawr iawn!

On our Zoom meeting I mentioned that in August and September I would be participating in a very important excavation on the northern coastline at a prehistoric hillfort site called Dinas Dinlle. The trench with the large roundhouse was excavated primarily by volunteers and the second trench with a more confusing layout was the domain of Bangor University students. It turns out that our confusing trench had much to tell us, and we found multiple types of pottery, evidence of metalworking, a shell midden (basically a rubbish heap), animal bones, a beautiful piece of roman glass... It is very rare to find this much due to the acidic nature of the soil here, but the mixture of sand combined with the natural geology seems to have preserved more than anyone expected.

The excavation also drew the attention of the BBC! I was so grateful to be a part of this dig and learned so much about fieldwork during my three weeks on site.

Here is the BBC video link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-58477909
Here is the 'Dig Diary' from the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust: http://www.heneb.co.uk/digdiarydinasdinlle2021.html
I hope you enjoy and will be in touch!

Cofion gorau,
Megan [Kimmelshue]"

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2021 North America Wales Foundation Scholarship Awards

9/16/2021

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Lloyd Family Travel Scholarships Bangor University 2021

Bridie Dimelow – Penley, Wrexham, Wales, partnered successfully with a local metal fabrication company, AWR Engineering, to produce and supply her product and is in the process of designing further products which are going to improve the welfare of horses during transportation.
Ciron Hywel – Llanrug, Gwynedd, Wales, secured a post as a design engineer with The Fifth Wheel company in North Wales that will pay his fees at Bangor University while he studies part-time for a postgraduate MSc in Applied Innovation Design. He hopes that the product he has initiated will be adopted by the company for further development.

Exchange Scholarships 2021

Andrew Edwards – Zeeland, Michigan, graduated (in Welsh) from Bangor University and will continue there in a master’s program, studying linguistic policy, focusing on sociolinguistics (in Welsh) in the field of the Welsh language for adults.
Kelly Evans – Santa Barbara, California, will read for her master’s degree in the forestry program at Bangor, focusing on environmental and climate issues.
Megan Kimmelshue – Jacksonville, Oregon, received her master’s degree in Celtic archaeology at Bangor and will continue there in a PhD program studying the role of children in historic Celtic cultures.
Brooke Martin – continues in her final year of PhD research at Bangor examining Welsh opera between 1875 and 1928, especially 42 little-known or studied works by Welsh composers.

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2020 North America Wales Foundation Scholarship & Grant Awards

9/16/2021

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Lloyd Jones Award

Elliot Goddard is an Industrial Design student from Bangor University. He is designing and manufacturing a sea kayaking wing paddle specific to the ‘Rockpool Taran’ Kayak, that must be robust and reasonably priced.

Lois Gwenllian Griffiths is a Product Design student from Bangor University. She is working to expand The Calendar King product/service range into app design to help Firecracker Design and Print keep up with increasing competition.

Grants

Peniel Welsh Chapel Association in Ripon, Wisconsin, will receive a full grant of $1000 to be used towards the cost of exterior renovations to the building.
Mari Morgan will receive a full grant award of $1000 towards publication of her PhD thesis on Welsh-American composers Daniel Prothero and Joseph Parry. The work is titled Braids of Song ~ Gwead y Gan and is to be released in the United States. This award is contingent upon the acquisition of additional funding towards publication costs.

Exchange Scholarship

Brooke Martin will receive the $5000 award to continue her PhD studies on Welsh opera at Bangor University. She has recently made great progress and new discoveries in the area of Welsh musicology, uncovering several Welsh and Welsh-American composers whose music output had not been uncovered.
Andrew Edwards will receive a $5000 award to continue his studies in Welsh at Bangor University. He will begin writing his BA dissertation on the abolitionists of German and Welsh communities in America before and during the Civil War and the radical beliefs of both groups expressed in the German and Welsh newspapers of the time.

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2019 North America Wales Foundation Scholarship & Grant Awards

9/16/2021

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NAWF Grant Award 2019

The Avondale Mine Disaster Preservation Committee will utilize NAWF funding to hold the 150th anniversary of the Avondale Mine Disaster on September 6-8, 2019. The Avondale disaster, which occurred in 1869, stands as the one of the deadliest anthracite mining disasters in history, with 110 victims, 69 of which were of Welsh descent. Ceremonies will be held at the disaster site in Plymouth Township and at the Washburn Street Cemetery. A full conference will be held at the Anthracite Heritage Museum as well, with featured speakers Professor Bill Jones and Professor Richard Healey, both from the UK.
Rimrock Opera Foundation utilized funding from NAWF to support the considerable expense to mount the American production of Joseph Parry’s opera, Blodwen, which was performed in Welsh from May 11-19, 2019, at the NOVA Center for the Performing Arts in Billings, Montana. Welsh native, Dr. Dulais Rhys, adapted the opera for chamber ensemble, and conducted the orchestra. Blodwen has already received universal praise for its creation and performance. Dr. Rhys hopes to find other venues in North America for the opera.

Lloyd Family Travel Scholarship 2019

Hope Kohtala (Received the Lloyd Family Travel Scholarship + partial Exchange Scholarship) from Mechanic Falls, Maine, spent spring semester 2018 studying at Bangor University and realized how similar Wales and Maine were in physical beauty and cultural experiences. She earned her BSc in Parks, Recreation and Tourism at University of Maine and will continue studies towards her MA in Tourism at Bangor University. Building upon her previous research project from her study abroad experience, Hope will compare similarities and differences between New England and Wales in the seasonal tourism industry.

Exchange Scholarships 2019

Rebecca Blok from Kalamazoo, Michigan, will study at Bangor University towards her MA in Welsh. In preparing for her thesis, Rebecca will identify the complex structure of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi and how this structure communicates the message of the work as a whole.
Brooke Martin from Clarkesville, Georgia, continues her studies, now towards a doctorate, at Bangor University, researching contemporary minority and Welsh-language opera. In the summer of 2018, she presented two papers, one at Wales Research Conference and the other at NAASWCH. Brooke has become a fluent Welsh speaker; this past March competing for the Chair in Eisteddfod y Dysgwyr (Learners) and was placed third. he Year.
Kelsey Weber from Portland, Maine, received her BFA in Ceramics from the Maine College of Art. Her next step is to complete a Masters in Ceramics at Cardiff Metropolitan University, researching the history, myths and folktales of Maine and Wales to find commonalities and historical links. She will then illustrate these tales on pottery.
Andrew Edwards from Zeeland, Michigan, continues his studies in Welsh Literature at Bangor University. He is passionate about his Welsh heritage and has fallen in love with Wales and the beautiful Welsh language. Andrew has become a fluent Welsh speaker and his courses are in the Welsh language. He has received much attention from the Welsh media as an American thriving in Wales.
Hope Kohtala-(Lloyd Family Travel Scholarship + partial Exchange Scholarship) see above.

Rebecca Blok with Hefina Phillips

Brooke Martin with Philip Davies

Kelsey Weber

Hope Kohtala

Andrew Edwards

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2018 NAWF Scholarship & Grant Awards ~ North American Students

9/16/2021

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NAWF Grant Awards 2018

Slate Valley Museum, Granville, NY. Concerts and lectures featuring Welsh musical performances and history
Congregants of the Welsh Church New York, NY. Casting and professional direction of a community reading of Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood.
Gwenan Davies, Abergele, Wales. An artist studying for her Master of Fine Arts at the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard Co.

Mackenzie Hornsby, Rio Grande, Ohio. Study Performing Arts at the University of Wales Trinity St David’s Carmarthen.

Mackenzie's Blog

Lloyd Family Travel Scholarship 2018

Anna King- Guysville, Ohio. Inspired by her grandparents, she will research the creation, documentation, and history and of Welsh lovespoons. Department of Fine Arts Trinity St David’s University Swansea Campus.

Anna King

Exchange Scholarships 2018

Andrew Edwards - Zeeland, MI. Pursuing a degree at Bangor University, majoring in Welsh, Intercollegiate Welsh Learner of the Year.
Coral Lumbley - Champaign, Illinois- Doctoral studies on Medieval Welsh Culture and Literature. Intensive Welsh language course at Aberystwyth University

James Sevitt

James Sevitt - City University of New York. Doctoral research examining how individuals in Merthyr Tydfil are experiencing and coping with long-accumulating divisions and inequalities, recently exposed and exacerbated by Brexit.

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Student messages of thanks

9/16/2021

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Excavation at a Prehistoric Hill-fort Site ~ Dinas Dinlle

2021 North America Wales Foundation Scholarship Awards

2020 North America Wales Foundation Scholarship & Grant Awards

2019 North America Wales Foundation Scholarship & Grant Awards

2018 NAWF Scholarship & Grant Awards ~ North American Students

Student messages of thanks

North America Wales Foundation

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