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Copyright © 1998-2000 Spencer Lucas. |
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Don't get the wrong impression, I don't speak Welsh. I'd loved to though. I'm trying to learn. I was born in Christchurch, South Wales, near Newport. I grew up in Caerleon (the great Roman town) and in Cwmbran. When I was 7 my family emigrated to Timmins, Ontario, Canada. I'm now in Sudbury, Ontario with my son Andrew. I am just short of completing a masters degree in Human Development. I've gone back to painting and sketching. I have some of my art on the net soon for anyone that is interested in seeing it. I have recently created four works that capture some of the images of Wales. You can see a thumbnail picture of one of them below. To see this image larger and in higher resolution or to see more of my art please follow the art link. I've also just become a DreamGuide for an internet tourism company called eDreams. I'll be their DreamGuide for Wales!!! I'm very excited about it.
I have been back to Wales 4 times since we emigrated. Once in 1980 with my whole family, the second time in 1983 on my own, in 1997 with my son and most recently in June of 99. This page is not so much about me (i don't wish to be vain), but about my experiences growing up in Wales and being a Welshman in Canada. I will soon have lots of photos to share with you. Some are old, many are of my holidays. I recently did a couple of days biking along the Taff Trail which was fantastic, but I hope to get back as soon as possible and do a biking tour across the entire country. As I mentioned earlier, I was 7 when my family emigrated to Canada. At 7 it was a surreal experience. I was aware of what was happening but had a hard time relating to being somewhere else other than Wales. The first thing I remember doing in Canada was to ask a child my own age where I was. I suppose at that age the world is small and the ego very big. I remember believing Richard Nixon was British, for instance(having seen him on British TV). I thought myself Welsh, not British. I'm not sure why? We lived in the valleys where everyone spoke English. I had Welsh cousins that lived nearby and English cousins that lived in faraway Birmingham :-). Having lived in Northern Ontario most of my life now, it seems strange that I thought of my home in Wales so faraway from Birmingham. But it was. This, in part, was the reason why it bothered me that people didn't discriminate between Wales and England when I came to Canada. Wales was in many ways "far" away from England! I remember my new school mates in Canada asking me where I was from when they heard my Welsh accent. Of course I said Wales, but invariably no one new where that was (including many adults!). After a time I would reluctantly answer England as usually this resulted in no frustrating follow up questions. I'll be damned if I would have received this kind of response if I had said Scotland or Ireland. But I did not know that then. I'm still not that sure why this is the case? To look at my personal photo collection enter the Gallery. All thumbs are approximately 2k and the full sized pics are about 40-60k. I've tried my best to get the best pic at the smallest file size without sacrificing too much of the beauty of Wales. |
My Photos |
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| Bala, Summer 1983 | Wales, Summer 1983 | Caernafon, Summer 1983 | Caernafon, Summer 1983 | |||||||||||||
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| Caernafon, Summer 1983 | Caernafon, Summer 1983 | Harlech, Summer 1983 | Andrew relaxing on the grounds at Cardiff Castle, June 1999 | |||||||||||||
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| From the Norman Keep looking out across the grounds of Cardiff Castle, June 1999 | Norwegian Church Arts Centre with the NCM building in the background, Cardiff Wales, June 1999 | City Hall pic taken from a moving Open bus tour, Cardiff, June 1999 | The Norman Keep at Cardiff Castle, June 1999 | |||||||||||||
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| View from the top of the Norman Keep at Cardiff Castle, June 1999 | The valleys train to Merthyr Tydfil entering Cardiff Central. You will notice the reconstruction under way for the World Cup of Rugby, June 1999 | Andrew in Cardiff. "People who know Beer...Have Brains" June 1999 | Andrew in front of Cardiff Bus Terminal, June 1999 | |||||||||||||
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| The Taff Trail leaving Merthyr Tydfil heading south towards Cardiff, June 1999 | Andrew patting a horse along the Taff Trail. Somewhere south of Pontypridd near Quaker Yard, June 1999 | Can you get more stereotypical than this in Wales? Sheep in the foreground, rugby posts, terrace housing, hills, and the green, green grass of home. Taken along the Taff Trail, June 1999 | The new Millenium Stadium along the Taff river in Cardiff Wales. It'll be home to the World Cup of Rugby in Oct 99. June 1999 | |||||||||||||
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| The park in Pontypridd. Andrew is throwing his miniature Welsh rugby ball. We are just about to head back on the Taff Trail south to Cardiff, June 1999 | ||||||||||||||||
More photos of my most recent trip here
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