Master's Trip to North Wales

Wales has much to offer and the changes it experiences (Plaid Cymru where are you now that Labour has swept the electoral board) are primarily economic. Which means the old industries, now defunct, have transformed themselves into tourist attractions (well, not sheep farming obviously). The shipping ports are now harbours with yacht clubs; the old slate railways are now narrow gauge tourist train rides; the slate mines are open to visitor 'experiences'; the grand houses, like all stately homes, open to the public.

The 31 Marketors who travelled to North Wales experienced all these things and more. A full write up will appear in the Marketor. The highlights were probably the LLechwedd Slate caverns where the shocking conditions under which men mined for slate is amply demonstrated.; the amazing Rex Whistler mural at Plas Newyydd on Angelsea 58 feet long and one piece of canvas with extraordinary trompe l'oeil effects; and of course Portmerion an astounding village designed and constructed by a man who was not even a qualified architect. Not forgetting Bodnant gardens one of the UK's greatest gardens and at its best in the Spring when the golden cascades of its remarkable 100 yard long laburnam arch can be walked through.

The conviviality and fellowshipwere first class. The card tricks at dinner by Peter Rees magical, and the weather, considering we were in the mountains, not too bad at all. As a taster of what North Wales has to offer all agreed it was a rich and thoroughly enjoyable trip.