The opening night of Twrw Tawe, an exciting and new performing arts club, was very successful with 21 young people attending. Menter Iaith and the club leaders were more than happy to see such a good turn out, and seeing the young people really enjoying themselves as well as learning some new performing techniques. Don’t forget that Twrw Tawe is held every Tuesday evening from 18:30 – 20:00, so come along and join the fun!

Some of Cyw’s favourite characters have been on a tour of Wales to celebrate that Cyw will now be shown on weekends as well as during the week. Menter Iaith went along to support the tour when it visited Ysgol y Wern, Ystalyfera. Children, parents, guardians, teachers and everybody else had the opportunity to sing and dance with Sali Mali, Tigi (from Igi, Tigi, Bip a Bop), Fireman Sam and Norman Price.

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As you may already be aware, the Welsh Homework Support Line service for primary schools was launched by the Welsh Language Board in November 2005. The Service, which is operated by Menter Môn as part of the Linkline to Welsh service, aims to offer support to parents and children who are receiving a Welsh-medium or bilingual education. The service provides:
· help with Welsh vocabulary or terms
· practical support on general matters to do with helping with homework through the medium of Welsh.

The service operates from Sunday to Friday, between 3pm and 9pm. It can be contacted by telephoning 0871 230 0029 or e-mailing post@homeworkinwelsh.com

Pontardawe and Castell-nedd primary schools opened their doors once again to the Menter Iaith this year in preperation for the summer of 2009’s playschemes. The Menter would like to thank the head teachers Myfanwy Rees, Tudur Jones and also the school governors’ from both schools.

The playschemes were held over a period of ten days 17 July – 31 July 2009 under the leadership of Rhys Evans, Awel Davies, Lowri Davies with voluntary assistance from Jenny Hopkin in Castell-nedd and Nia Angharad, Tom Owens and Catrin Heledd at Pontardawe. We had a very good response with approximately 450 children in total attending the two schemes.

During the ten days the children had the chance to participate in various games and activities. There were all sorts of traditional games, but also a chance to play with the Menter Iaith’s cyber café which has been very popular at many schools within the county so far. The children also had the chance to attend an art and crafts room, creating a few works of art good enough to hang in any gallery in the world!

Thanks to the vision of our National Assembly the children also had the opportunity to use the swimming pools in Pontardawe and Castell-nedd free of charge throughtout the two weeks.

Thanks again to all the children and the parents from both schools for their support. I would like to thank the staff and the volunteers’ very much for being so profesional in their work and for giving the best possible care to every child that attended the playschemes during the summer.

This is an invitation for you to be a part of a brand new performing arts club for years 5 and 6 (primary), and years 7, 8 and 9 (comprehensive). It will be held every Tuesday between 18:30 0 20:00 in Stadwen Youth Centre, Bethel Road, Llansamlet, SA7 9QP. The club will meet for the first time on 11/01/11.

Twrw Tawe leaders
Elfair Jones is a teacher at Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Ynyscedwyn. She has a wealth of experience, including adjudicating singing competitions especially the ‘cerdd dant’ in the Eisteddfod numerous times.

Emyr Jones is the headmaster at Ysgol y Bannau, Brecon. He specialises in the field of folk and clog dancing and has also adjudicated numerous times.

Emyr and Elfair live in Cwmgiedd, Cwm Tawe and both were leaders of the folk society ‘Reit i Wala’ for years.

Cath Price is a teacher at Ysgol Gynradd Pontyberem and is an accomplished accompanist and has conducted various choirs.

The club is being run in partnership between Menter Iaith Abertawe and Menter Iaith Castell Nedd Port Talbot who hope to entice pupils of all ages from both counties. Come and enjoy!

The doors of Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Castell-nedd and Pontardawe were opened to Menter Iaith once again this summer for Play Schemes, thanks to head teachers Mr Tudur Jones, Mrs Myfanwy Rees and their school governors.

The play schemes ran for 10 days from 26 July – 06 August 2010 under the leadership of Rhys Evans, Catrin Heledd and Rhisian Mai Davies at Neath and Lisa-Marie Evans and Emyr Hopkin at Pontardawe. This year the response was excellent with up to 350 children attending the scheme at Neath and Pontardawe.

During the ten days the children had the opportunity to take part in numerous activities including traditional games and of course the very popular Dodgeball and cyber cafe. The children also had the opportunity to visit our art and craft room, where a few master pieces were created, some good enough to hang on the wall of any art gallery in the world!

Thanks to the vision of our National Assembly, the children were able to swim at Dyfed Road, Neath and Pontardawe Swimming Pools free of charge during the two weeks.

Menter Iaith Castell-nedd Port Talbot would like to thank the children and parents of both schools for their support once again. Thanks also must go to the staff and volunteers for being so professional in their work and for giving the children the best possible care and enjoyment during the summer holidays.

A group of young people came together for lots of fun and games over the Easter holidays thanks to Menter Iaith’s play scheme. The Menter’s summer play schemes have always been very successful, and after numerous requests from parents Menter decided to run a play scheme over Eater in Ysgol Gymraeg Pontardawe. Menter would like to thank the school again for their continued support and to be so kind as to loan the school again as the venue for their play scheme. The young people had a great time playing all sorts of sports, games, swimming, art and much more. Yet again dodge ball was one of the favourite games played. With all the fun being had during the play scheme, and all through the Welsh language, Menter Iaith is already looking forward to their summer play scheme.

We recieved a very warm welcome from Pontardawe Welsh Medium Primary School at their summer fair. Despite the rain many parents and pupils came to support their school. Eifion Price from the folk group Jac Y Do joined us at the school to entertain the children with some folk dancing