ORGANISERS of Paréd Dewi Sant 2016 in Pwllheli have taken the opportunity of using the celebrations to engage with the residents in the Dwyfor area who have come to live and work in the area from outside the United Kingdom.

Since 2014 volunteers have organised an annual parade in Pwllheli to celebrate Wales’ Patron Saint. Each event has seen many hundreds of local people joining the parade and enjoying a program of fringe activities during the week leading up to the main event.

This year organisers decided that, with the help of hunaniaith, the Gwynedd-based Menter Iaith, an event would be arranged to engage with people living in the Dwyfor area who hail from other countries in Europe.

Rhys Llewelyn, volunteer organiser of Paréd Dewi Sant said: “St David’s Day celebrations have become a focal point for a whole week of activities in Dwyfor in the last few years, we realised however that people who have neither Welsh nor English as a first language have not been included in the past. This year we have organised an event which will give them to opportunity to understand more about the Welsh language and learning the language.”

An invitation, issued jointly by the Paréd committee and hunaniaith in six languages, including Polish, Bulgarian and Romanian has been widely distributed amongst schools, local businesses and community groups in the Pwllheli area inviting people to a social evening at the Taro Deg café on Lôn Dywod, Pwllheli at 7pm on Monday, 22 February.

The evening will include entertainment by Gai Toms; the acoustic soloist from Tanygrisiau and Welsh Tapas, provided by Taro Deg, to eat. Local language tutor Eleri Llywelyn Morris will give a short and informal presentation on learning key phrases and pronunciations and Coleg Meirion Dwyfor’s Welsh for Adults tutor will be in attendance to sign-up people for Welsh lessons.

Ifan Jones, Language Development Officer at hunaniaith said: “We will warmly welcome people who have come to work in the Pwllheli area from Europe and are interested in learning more about the Welsh language.

“Learning Welsh will certainly give people a new perspective to life in Wales. Having roots in mainland Europe many will already be able to speak two, three or even more languages.

“We are targeting people from Europe living in the area. However, we would also welcome local Welsh speakers, be it in smaller numbers, to join the event to provide a local friendly face, ready to help with basic support in learning Welsh.”