A Promise Kept

Today Phil made good on a promise he made to Betty two years ago at the North American Festival of Wales, in Toronto that year. Betty, who had just celebrated her 90th birthday at that time, asked him to come to her local gymanfa ganu (Welsh hymn-singing festival) at Bryn Seion Church, about 30 miles from Portland, Oregon.

Phil responded with "I'll come if you give me a kiss," which Betty promptly did, and we made plans to go to the Bryn Seion gymanfa in 2014. Unfortunately, I had some sudden health problems that June, so Phil had to postpone fulfilling his part of the bargain.

That was remedied today, when we attended Bryn Seion's 80th gymanfa today, and I couldn't resist blipping this lovely photo of Betty and Phil as she welcomed us to the event. She's an amazingly energetic and very personable woman, and it's always a treat to be with her!

Phil and I sang in both the afternoon and evening sessions, a total of 24 hymns for the day, three or four verses per hymn, not counting repeating choruses in several, with Welsh being the dominant language choice, following first verses often sung in English to help participants learn their parts (soprano, alto, tenor, bass).

In between the hymns we enjoyed music performed by the Festival Chorus of the Welsh Society of Portland, as well as several soloists and small ensembles. I've sung so much today that I can barely speak, but it was well worth it to sing in such an historic church with a group of kindred spirits!

(I'm very grateful for your comments, hearts, and stars on my Portland sojourn blips, and will catch up with your journals once I'm home and on my computer again.)