Just north of where I am is an old WW2 POW camp site, with a few of the tin sheds still standing. Henllan is the village and it's fairly well known locally for the shed that the Italian POWs turned into a Roman Catholic church. I haven't been to it myself (it is only occasionally open to the public) but I hear it's fantastic. Pity the linked article doesn't have colour photos.

We also have a Christian Orthodox Church in Wales based in Blaenau Ffestiniog and ministered to by Y Tad (Father) Deiniol. Coincidentally Father D is my god-kids' mother's cousin Roger. Funny old world. Anyway, they started out with a terrace house which they turned into a house of worship which was interesting enough to begin with. Can't imagine stepping through the front door and being in an Orthodox church! They've now bought a surplus-to-requirements Church in the town. I understand that they have a really really good choir; local people who aren't necessarily Orthodox in faith but get a kick out of singing the music.

Of course, in Wales you can't ramble across a field without falling down a Holy Well (very much like Cornwall in that regard) and Bardsey Island (Enlli in Welsh) is known as the Island of 20,000 Saints.

There are probably that many again who stayed on the mainland. I visited the church of Melangell this summer which was magical. The church's other claim to fame is that Nancy Richards (Telynores Maldwyn), one of the great sustainers of the Welsh triple harp is buried there.

As is well known, Wales took to non-Conformist and Methodist Protestantism with a vengence and Roman Catholics have, from time to time, had a pretty tough life. There are two or three religious songs that were collected (I think in the 1940s) from Myra Evans. They are particularly interesting because they were Roman Catholic and had not been sung publicly by the family for a couple of generations for fear of being thrown out of chapel. (So the family had become protestant at some point.) One of them - "Myn Mair" - has been recorded quite often and 'arranged' for choirs.

Just north of here, around Llanybydder and Alltyblaca, the Unitarians were a force to be reckoned with. I understand that a great great grandmother of mine (I might need another 'great' on that) was a key figure in establishing the Unitarians in North East Wales.    It didn't 'stick' in the family though; I guess I like my Christmasses and Easters too much ...

Oh ... and in a small side building in the chapel around the corner from me, here, is a pencil sketch of a dove hovering over an open book and radiating a sunbeam down on the book. This became the logo for the worldwide Methodist Connexion and is still seen in the crests of Methodist churches around the world. Huw Hughes, the artist, was the son-in-law of David Charles who was a great Welsh hymn writer (as was his son after him). And DC's brother was Thomas Charles who founded The Bible Society . Th.C was also involved in spiritually guiding one of the greatest Welsh hymnists of the 19th century, Ann Griffiths . My gran's cousin's grandaughter is married to the farmer at AG's old home, which is not far from Melangell's church, which brings me back to where I started.

Wales is like that.

sian