Praise for local company’s promotion of Welsh Language

A local company has used a community facility in Y Felinheli in order to develop the Welsh language  for its staff and to extend the level of service through the medium of  Welsh to its customers. A positive step forward worthy of praise, according to Sian Gwenllian, Plaid Cymru Councillor for the area.

Recently, Dafydd Hardy Estate Agents have staged Welsh learning sessions for its staff at Y Felin Sgwrsio, Y Felinheli, with six members learning for the very first time and eight others looking to develop their language skills.

‘This project is a continuation of the work we are doing internally to extend the use of the language as the working language’, explained Aled Jones on behalf of Dafydd Hardy. ‘This builds on the recent success that we had at the Inspire Wales Awards, when we won the Welsh At Work award for SMEs. As part of this approach, we decided to utilise Y Felin Sgwrsio in order to promote a local community, which again is important for us’

‘It is great to see a commercial company like Dafydd Hardy investing time and staff to learn and develop their Welsh language skill’, explained Sian Gwenllian, who is also the Treasurer for the community venture based at Bangor Street, Y Felinheli. ‘An increasing number of learners value the centre as a place where the Welsh language can be used naturally and they welcome the opportunity to practice the language with local Welsh speaking people’, Sian added.

The centre was established after the café closed and is now run by volunteers as a community project. In addition to Welsh language learning sessions, the centre also arranges other weekly events such as Art for All, Yoga, Photography and Spanish. Councillor Sian Gwenllian conducts weekly drop –in sessions each Friday at 10.30 am in order that local people can discuss any local issues or plans.

Aled G Job, the Welsh Language Tutor who runs the sessions, welcomed the involvement of Dafydd Hardy in the Welsh Language in this way and in utilising a community project such as Y Felin Sgwrsio.

‘This blends well with the importance Y Felin Sgwrsio places on learning Welsh within the community and reflects well on a company like Dafydd Hardy, who appreciate the value of investing in the language in this way’, Aled stated.