Today, apart from being the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, is also that of the fifth century Welsh nun St Dwynwen.
Now for those of you have have never, or even scarcely, heard of her that excellent journal Country Life has an article about her life and cult as the Welsh equivalent of St Valentine. In recent years the revival of interest in her had come to my attention, but when I used to stay in North Wales on holiday as a schoolboy in the 1960s she was never mentioned at all.
The story of St Dwynwen shows the perils attached to getting in the way of such a saint’s vocation and has similarities to the later, eighth century, story of St Frideswide here in Oxford and her pursuit by Algar of Leicester.
The informative article, which also looks at the intercession role of St Raphael based upon the Book of Tobit, can be read at Curious Question: Was St Valentine beaten to it by 1,000 years by the Welsh patron saint of love?
9 comments:
On holiday in North Wales in the 1960s? There are doubtless loads of places to stay, either commercial or with friends or relatives. But you didn't by any chance attend the PPSC summer camps at Porthdinllaen near Morfa Nefyn, run by one Basil Clarkson?
I was there myself for a couple of years, and thoroughly enjoyed them. But years later I learned that Basil had been a bit too friendly and cuddly for comfort in private with some of the younger boys, especially at bath times!
John Ramsden (jhnrmsdn@yahoo.co.uk)
https://highranges.com
Mercifully I avoided such things. My visits to North Wales were family holidays with my widowed mother and involved a lot of visits to the great Edwardian castles.
Never went to the camps but went on 4 cruises on the Norfolk Broads in the early 60s and to one House Party at Avon Tyrrell in early 64. Great fun: taught me how to sail! The last camp in North Wales was in 79 and I happened to be passing but failed to renew my acquaintance!
I too attended the camps inNorth Wales, but preferred the cruises on the Norfolk Broads where I learnt to sail on the Leading Ladies and Perfect Ladies sailing boats. Held at Easter the weather was frequently quite bitter, and once I recall coming upon deck one morning to find a few inches of snow had fallen. As I attended Bedford School, Bedford was also where Basil Clarkson lived. My father had attended PPSC camps before me and my grandparents knew Basil. I was therefore encouraged by my Grandmother to call round to his house and have tea with Basil. There was a lady present but I ant recall if she was a wife or housekeeper. As their teas were considerably better than school fare I went round several times. Happily nothing untoward happened and as I was a member of the schools printing club located in de Paris Avenue I helped print flyers for Basil regarding changes to the brochures for the PPSC. I am sad to see these stories about Basil Clarkson. He was always very decent to me.I don’t think he actually attended the Norfolk Broads cruises, but he definitely was present at Porthdinclaen in what must have been around 1974 or 75.
I also attended both the camps and the Norfolk broads cruises in the mid to late seventies. Clarkson used to travel in a motor cruiser on the broad cruises.
I attended the ppsc camps for 3 years and loved them. Had no incidents.
I attended PPSC for 2 years around 1977 in mid Wales and loved them. Basil was always kind to me and I never directly experienced anything. However he was physical- arms around shoulders, a hand on you knee -that did not seem appropriate and I was wary of him being "too friendly"- a feeling shared by many boys. I trust my intuition so this curiosity suggested a search that led me here. I note a wider discussion and that the PPSC website has been taken down. We should always be careful of accusing people of things - rumours are ugly things and innocent things can be misconstrued but I do think its important that if people have direct experience of real abuse should share it as there may be others who are carrying that burden in isolation.
Alas the truth is that BC was a pedophile. He took a shine to me , he was someone I admired very much which is in the nature ot successful grooming. The thing that really gets to me fatet all these years is all the people who knew amd said and did nothing
Thank you Anonymous above. You have called this man what he was, a pedophile. Someone who groomed the young boys in his care with the intention of having sex with them.
I take exception John Ramsden in the posts above to your sentence of innuendos with an exclamation mark at the end. It seems as though you are trivialising his behaviour and the long lasting effects on many of us.
He was a clever man who put it all to evil intentions. And how did it continue for SO long without someone attempting to stop it? Am I bitter? Yes.
Thankfully there are many good people in this world. And I learnt something from the awful experience … evil happens when good people do nothing to stop it. In peace.
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