Thursday, April 14, 2011

"English" signs not permitted for children's race?

Fortunately, it appears the culprit has been apprehended:
Children taking part in a run on a mist-covered Welsh mountain lost their way after a man removed safety signs and course markings because they were written in English.

The signs were apparently taken down because they were in English
Race organisers said the man was seen carrying one sign and removing another shortly before the youngsters, some as young as seven, set off.
Of course, until he's charged, then it remains still an "apparently taken down because they were in English"   but if it is indeed the case then let's hope Welsh language activists are prepared to condemn his wreckless actions:
“It is ridiculous. We had put the run on to raise money for the local primary school and we faced a situation where kids’ safety was put at risk.”

“Some of the kids were clearly in distress and were crying, so we gave them something to eat and drink. Fortunately they all got back safely.”

Mr Blake added: “I was told this fellow had gone and taken the signs away and took them to a dump.

''He was carrying one of the signs and undoing another. Apparently, he took them down because they were in English.

“We went to the police because what happened was dangerous."

14 comments:

The Aberdonian said...

You get these bizarre rules. When I worked in England my boss was someone who hated the Welsh. Said a Welshman was a well-balanced Englishman - a chip on each shoulder.

His view was formed from when he was a teacher (later quit to become a double glazing salesman) and he wanted to teach in Wales whilst living over the border in the West Midlands.

He applied for an English teaching job but was apparently rejected because he could not speak - wait for it - basic Welsh and therefore was not fit to teach in the school.

And all this in those so-halcyon days before devolution!

Whatabout? said...

Maybe he found the English signs to be 'offensive' contibuting to a 'chill factor' deliberatly designed to alienate Welsh speakers

O'Neill said...

"You get these bizarre rules"

Aberdonian,

In this case it looks no more, no less like a good-old fashioned bigot prepared to upset children and even put them in the danger rather than any

Cai Larsen said...

So a guy sends a load of small kids out running on a mountain in misty condition & they all get lost because a language activist happens to be up there & has stolen all the signs, & has somehow found a dump on a mountain on which to dump them.

I don't often agree with you mo chara, but I must say I never considered you naive before today.

Anonymous said...

Why would an Englishman who hates the Welsh want to teach in Wales?

Alwyn ap Huw said...

Surely your heading should read Welsh signs not permitted for children's race, as the organisers didn't bother to use Welsh on signs in Tryfan, a mountain in one of the strongholds of the Welsh language. No criticism of the fact that the organisers didn't give a damn about the safety of the majority of children in the area who receive their education through Welsh by providing bilingual signs that all the kids could read, of course.

Hywel said...

What a silly story! There's seems to be as much evidence as the Yeti had taken the signs than a Welsh language activist. Again, what a stupid story to publish in a paper. As if there nothing of importance going on the in the world.

Dylan said...

"Mike Blake, 63, the race’s organiser, said: “We believe the signs were taken down by a person who is a Welsh activist and who is against anything English."

I like how he declares all of this without even a shred of evidence. His immediately jumping to this conclusion - and running to the press with it - speaks volumes about his own bigotry more than anything else.

Sounds to me like Blake is a bit of a moron. Who the hell arranges for seven year old kids to go running on their own over misty moorland halfway up a mountain, anyway?

O'Neill said...

Two points to the batch of comments that I have just put through:

1. I included the word "apparently" in my post and "it looks" in my answer to Aberdonian- indicating that we don't have 100% proof on this. You all seem 100% convinced of you own versions despite this fact.
2. Not one of you have indicated any kind of remorse for the effect real and potential on the children, if the story is true. Not one of you.

I'll leave it at that.

Cai Larsen said...

Why would I want to express remorse because an idiot takes kids up a mountain in difficult conditions, temporarily loses the lot & needs to make up a quick story?

It's his affair, not mine.

Do you really believe that there was a language activist who just happened to be on a mountain in mist, & decided to carry a hundred posters off to a nearby dump - as you probably know there are thousands of dumps in the Snowdonia National Park.

Are you really that stupid?

Will you take up any story if it gives you the opportunity to engage in a bit of abject mopery?

Alwyn ap Huw said...

Not one of you have indicated any kind of remorse for the effect real and potential on the children, if the story is true. Not one of you.

And you haven't shown any doubts about the danger of the absence of bilingual safety signs in the most Welsh speaking area of Wales, where the majority of children are educated through the medium of Welsh.

The official policy of most Welsh Language campaigning groups is that safety signs shouldn't be interfered with, and that complaints about monolingual safety signs should be dealt with through other channels such as the Welsh Language Board. So if it is true that a Welsh Language activist removed the signs, he was, unequivocally, wrong to do so!

But when an individual organises an event in an area where bilingual signs are known to be de rigueur but chooses to use English only signs for that event, during an election period, one suspects that he may have a political point to make and that it was a "set up".

He might even have pinched his own English signs in order to make his evidently anti Welsh language point!

Dewi Harries said...

O'Neill - it's like the Daily Sport here. Elvis pinched the signs.

O'Neill said...

Oh Dewi,

That's not very kind;)

The Daily Sport has ceased publication and entered administration on April 1, 2011

The Gombeen Man said...

Right... that's one lone nutter in Wales.

The trouble is, you have it on an official basis down here in Dublin... thanks to our Gaeliban.


http://gombeennation.blogspot.com/2010/01/dublin-city-council-irish-only.html