Epynt memorial service

Bois Epynt / Men of Epynt by Aneurin Jones
A story that appears on the BBC Cymru website, but not on the BBC Wales site. There's a mention in the Daily Post (scroll down)

A service was held at the ruins of Capel Babell (chapel) on Epynt mountain by Cymdeithas y Cymod on Saturday (8/10/05) to commemorate opposition to 40,000 acres of farmland in Breconshire being confiscated by the MOD in 1940. Not only was it a travesty that 400 people were forced from their homes at only a few weeks notice and having to leave farms which had been in the farmed by their families for generations, but also it meant that the linguistic border of Wales was moved many miles westwards.

Beautiful Welsh farm names such as Clwyd Bach y Groes, Hirllwyn and Pentref Uchaf are now called Dixie's Corner, Piccadilly Circus and Gallows Hill. Capel Babell was the first bulding to be used for target practice.

A spokesman for Cymdeithas y Cymod said that "the British War Office's injustice of completly destroying a Welsh speaking heartland will not be forgoten".

"The injustice does not diminish with time or while the the military still keeps hold of our land" he added.

Gruff Rhys recently wrote a song called Epynt. It's a play on words as Epynt sounds like 'E'-'pound' in Welsh and therefore has a double meaning, i.e. refering to the debate about the Euro and the pound.

From his website:

Epynt
Epynt is a mountain in Mid Wales. It’s also about the battle between the Euro (the E in Epynt) and the pound (pynt in Welsh). The conclusion is that it’s better to get rid of money altogether.

You can listen to it here

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