O’r Niwl i’r Nef - The Big Walk (Promotional Video)

‘O’r Niwl i’r Nef - The Big Walk’
A fundraiser for the Western Beacons Mountain Rescue Team.

I’ve been playing this over in my mind, and talking about it, for a very long time!

On 25th May (Whitsun Monday) Tedi and I will be walking from Ystradgynlais to Llyn y Fan Fawr.

Why I’m doing this:

During Covid I found myself back home on the family farm in the Swansea Valley having lost all of my work as a professional musician.

Being a keen runner and hiker, I found myself paying daily visits to Cribarth mountain, also known as the Sleeping Giant.

According to local folklore, the giant would wake and come to the aid of the people of the valley in their hour of need - I firmly believe he came to me in mine!

‘O’r Niwl i’r Nef / From Haze to Heaven’ - is a piece that was inspired by the story of three local boys , David James Gibbs, Lewis Davies and David John Morgan, who, in 1904, climbed Cribarth mountain and wandered some six miles over the Brecon Beacons to Llyn y Fan Fawr to go fishing. On the way back, they got lost and separated in the mist on the mountain.

David Gibbs and Lewis Davies eventually made it home safely, but sadly, David Morgan was found dead. He had succumbed to exhaustion and exposure. A search for the boys by the local populace was not launched until the following morning and failed to get to him in time to save his life.

David was found clutching a religious pamphlet entitled “The History of Jesus”, his only source of comfort in his dying moments.

For me, like many others affected by the pandemic, it was a pivotal time in my life, and the story and the music (originally written for soprano or tenor and piano) was the perfect fuel to rekindle the creative fire.

I found myself out on the mountain with my dog, at the centre of the landscape depicted in this song.

The sounds I began to hear in my head were orchestral and cinematic, mimicking the scale and majesty of the landscape around me and my home.

The story reminded me of how the natural world around us can be both wondrous and dangerous, and I thought of the brave men and women who work tirelessly to make it safer for us to enjoy our relationship with it.

In appreciation and support of the work the volunteers of the Western Beacons Mountain Rescue, and the commitment these volunteers, who are on call 24/7, 365 days a year, make to their work whatever the conditions, I am trying to do my bit to raise valuable funds and awareness through art, and sport by walking in the footsteps of the three boys on that fateful day in 1904.

To donate:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/lucy-j-morgan-7?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL

Diolch!

Видео O’r Niwl i’r Nef - The Big Walk (Promotional Video) канала Lucy J. Morgan