General Chat

Rose. Thanks for that article about Coslett. Not too sure of accuracy of Telegraph obituary - as there were probably 14 in the Bangor cell alone. Was aware they were the shop front so to speak - and behind them there were other less obviously military small groups. In Bangor, they were very young lads who would have been pretty radicalised and would still only be in early 60's.

Did not know about the Irish tie up, but it was all pretty menacing and worrying at the time. I am pleased that my friends in Bangor then (who were very extreme often in their views) totally disowned Coslett, Evans and others. Many Bangor friends stood as Councillors, MPs and AS's (Members of the Senedd in Cardiff Bay). And have had a big influence on Welsh politics since 1970.

Dr Ellis was very critical of the methods of the violent men in his book Second Class Citizen (1969). I tend to agree with MrDaff - once a Welshman, always a Welshman. But that sort of murderous intent for what me and my friends think of as the Welsh "cause" of eventual independence from Westminster rule is so horrible and so un-Welsh and therefore so very counter-productive.

Gwynne. I think Robyn Lewis is following in the tradition of grumpy old men and women. Quite a few of us grumpy people contribute to these threads.

If we have bees in our bonnet, they buzz and irritate. And some of us have been on the receiving end of a few bees ;-)

I have seen no more facts about this incident other than what Lewis and the Store Manager have said to the papers, as reported by Sue in OP. I think he had every right to ask the girl to say the amount in Welsh. What happened next is mainly the store manager's version of events. And I agree that makes Dr Lewis look like an old bee. :-D

You are wrong John it wasnt just the store managers version of events as you say, the silly old man has given his own interview to the BBC so he has the chance to put across his version of events and still the outcome remains the same , he is a silly old arrogant fool who bullied a cashier and was put in his place, its pretty obvious you think his actions are justified, by your own opinion of Robyn Lewis and that of the mere £7.00 an hour cashier, and the manager was wrong to bring in the police I personally do not, I wonder John if these actions were by any other person than Robyn Lewis. if your opinon would remain the same. Not only should of he pay for his goods but also compensate the £7.00 an hour cashier and also be made to pay the cost to the police for call.


Happy new year btw :-D

Hayley, you,re flogging a Dead Horse, John only follows his own Direction,nothing else matters to him. What is interesting though is the fact that all those Houses/Holiday homes that were mentioned, No-one ever mentioned Who Sold them to the People who Bought them, As for that silly old Pillock,if it had been my shop, I would have taken the goods off him,had him removed form the premises an Barred him from entering there again.**M**.

Merlin I did mention who sold the properties to incomers :-D

I wish there was more about this story. Manager says Dr Ellis's account is rubbish and he was spoken to in Welsh. I cannot believe he went in there to do more than shop.

Have just tried via a google Welsh search to find out more. But that is it, no letters to local papers about it, both sides of the contre temps saying they were right and nobody locally commenting about any threads.

In fact, the only way we would have discussed this is because someone living in Gwent (Sue) wanted to have a pop. Has it caused a stir away from Genes chat? If so, I cannot find it.

I am trying to go in the direction of truth, Merlin. Why do so many posters assume Dr Lewis is wrong. I will not believe that on the evidence so far. The clearest proof of who was right or wrong will be in the takings of Spar - which has been a very successful shop under Conrad Davies so far.

Dr Lewis condemned himself out of his own mouth, his own account of his actions show him to be a buffoon and a bully. Or do you think he wasn't telling the truth, John?

Had a very pleasant day out west to the land of my mothers and we got chatting to some locals in a beach cafe. I asked the group we were chatting to what they thought about Dr Robyn and some said he was a nutter, others said he was a bloody nuisance and another that he was an embarrassment.

So it's not just on GR he's viewed with disdain.

Gwynne

I wanted to have a pop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


and for your information I LIVE in Ceredigion but stay in the Valleys.... hence I know more than you about Welsh speaking areas and I have lived in Wales for about 22 years longer than you


LOLOLOLOL

:-P :-P

Edit: the first google result in Welsh was this:

http://oclmenai.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/y-daily-mail-robin-lewis-spar.html

and you couldn't find it?

Bit late, but the New Year & other celebrations took me elsewhere, Muffy believe it or not, 3x Great grandmother was born in........ yep Lisbon :-D

lololol our Rose, I just edited after throwing mine in the damn bin :-P

Rose. Many thanks for finding that. I had looked and failed.

Yes, bit more colourful than the polite "he disagrees with me, must therefore be a pillock." "Hear, hear"

Also a bit more representative of the fact that over 20% of the Welsh population has been radicalised (like that word). I think I am the only one posting on Genes who admits to that. I am not saying that even the radicalised ones on the Cardiff thread are not saying he is a silly old fool - but silly old fools got a little more love and pandering to in my young days. Much ruder about old people now.

One thing that has been stated (I think this thread) was that Plaid Cymru originated in 1925 from a violent group. As far as I aware they started with a group with "Army" in its title - but two of the three founders were Rev Lewis Valentine of Llanddulas and Rev Ffred Jones (grandfather of pop singer Dafydd Iwan). Both Lewis Valentine and Ffred Jones (and their friend the dramatist Saunders Lewis) were pacifists.

And before anyone reminds us they fired the Bombing School at Penyberth, that was meant to be a pacifist act - and got a lot of support amongst the Welsh at the time.

In conclusion, I have enjoyed this thread more than I think I would have enjoyed the Cardiff thread. Bit nicer people here perhaps :-) I suppose jury is split 11-1 on evidence provided - so will have to submit to a majority verdict :-(

" the clearest proof of who was right or wrong will be in the takings of Spar"

I am quite sure that this unfortunate and unnecessay incident will have done Conrad Davies and his shops no harm whatsoever - indeed may have done some good locally.

The attitude of most local people reading the account of events, will be one of "Oh him again"

The Spar shops owned by the Davies family in Pwllheli, Abersoch, Blaenau Ffestiniog, and Dolgellau are highly regarded, and well patronised. Employing local people, Welsh will be the first language of most of them, and whenever I have spoken to any of them in Welsh, they have always responded likewise.


Conrad Davies runs a tight ship in all his stores, as did his father before him. Customer service and attention to the needs of the customer are second to none. Every effort is made to source produce from 80 local Welsh suppliers.
In over 40 years I have always found his employees to helpful, courteous, polite, and friendly.
The Pwllheli store won the prestigious National (UK) BBC Best Local Retailer Award, and in 2012 his Eurospar Superstore in Dolgellau won the award.



If in order to further his cause and agenda Dr Lewis finds it necessary to intimidate a " £7 an hour shop assistant" knowing the publicity his actions would generate, then he sounds to me like a drowning man, and a rather desparate man.

If after trying to resolve the situation, Conrad Davies felt it necessary and appropriate to call for the assistance of the police then I have no doubt he would have felt justified in doing so. His staff are not there to be abused.

It is not the kind of publicity he would welcome, even if Dr Lewis does.

Tec.

An apology would have been nice John.

I'll not hold by breath.,,lolol

Edit: Hello Tec, thanks for that explanation :-)

Thanks, Tec. That info was very helpful.

I just wonder why, when the cashier pushed her bell, Conrad didn't come over, find out what the problem was and then (along with the girl) carouse the old boy with "Pumdeg wyth punt, wythdeg naw ceiniog" in a tuneful duet. That would have got just as much publicity, but in a fun way and nobody would have been upset.

Not a small shopping bill. And Dr Ellis would probably have sought out the shop for its range of local produce (which would probably make the shop a good profit). You cannot afford to lose a customer (and some of his friends possibly) over a silly incident like that. Sounds like a bad hair day for Conrad.

This is a tiny corner shop type premises from what I can see...the spar in my old villiage looked bigger.

£50 spent in the shop does'nt go far these days....few bottles of booze and some fags, oh and maybe a pint of milk :-D

"Pumdeg wyth punt, wythdeg naw ceiniog"

& what's that in English? please??

Conrad did nothing wrong and everything right. He supported his employee in the face of a bullying, arrogant old git out to cause trouble. A shame more employers don't do the same. I hate to see shop workers harrangued and humiliated by rude customers who are not as important as they think they are. Any decent employer would do as Conrad did.

I really hope he bans the old fool. He'd be no loss whatsoever. A timewaster and rude as well. I doubt Conrad needs the money that much, from the article posted he seems a popular chap, and this can only increase his popularity among reasonable people.

Fifty-eight pounds, eighty nine pence

just chat to myself in Wenglish...

Jax,

These shops are bigger than the average Spar - my local one employs about 40/50 staff - hardly corner shops. :-)

Eeyore - £58 - 62p in English :-D

Tec.

Gwynne. At worst he was a stubborn and opinionated old fool. I am assuming you have never managed a supermarket. In my experience, that sort of incident starts several times a day. Just imagine serving 50 of the most active genes posters :-0 :-0

Managers train their cashiers and supervisors to deal with these problems. The vast majority can be diffused immediately at source by the cashier. If not, management is called and you approach the checkouts as Store Manager to see an upset cashier and an upset customer.

You are Conrad Davies. What do you do next? Discuss. (Answer. You call an English only speaking policeman). Really? Is that the best solution?

Incidentally, if you sing "pum deg wyth punt" you can sing it to "Men of Harlech"