Criccieth Sali Dafydd.

Description

Criccieth Sali Dafydd.

Sali Dafydd was a ficticious character whose writing appeared in Welsh language newspapers at the end of the 19th century. She was a jolly lady from the rural area of the Llŷn Penninsula who kept chickens to sell their eggs and loved visiting and entering flower shows and competitions at the many agricultural and horticultural shows held around the district. In fact, she liked taking excursions to communities all over the county, meeting the residents and discussing local events. The stories are based on actual occurences and people, reported in other newspapers and publications. When the Pwllheli council elections were being held she described each candidate in a light humourous manner . On another trip to the town she talked about all the different shops and shopkeepers. The topic of conversation on her visit to Beddgelert was the prospective railway (Welsh Highland Railway) from Porthmadog. All the important people involved in the project are named. She also brings in foreign news such as, during the Spanish American war of 1898, when loud explosions were heard at Pwllheli, people thought that a Spanish Man o’ war was bombarding the town. The funny article tells of one shopkeeper shouting “Sell your petticoats and buy swords”. The armed residents then marched to the seashore only to find that it was the council workers setting off the explosions. Many of the articles are in the form of letters between herself and her husband, Robin Dafydd, who was lodging in Criccieth. He writes of how cosmopolitan the seaside resort is with ornamental trees around the park and an esplanade for the visitors. There was even a shop where you could have your photograph taken. Sali is not impressed and warns Robin not to get above himself and start wearing fancy clothes and speaking English. He tells Sali about the problem that the town council has with people living on Marine Terrace, throwing empty salmon tins and jam pots on to the beach.They decide that the jam pots would be ideal as vases for her flowers and so he collects several and sends them to her. They were very popular and her flowers in jam pots became famous at shows all over the county. It could be said that Sali Dafydd was an early advocate of re-cycling.