The Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu Association, also known as WNGGA, was founded in 1929, after the first Cymanfa Ganu in North America was held on a field on Goat Island, located in the Niagara Reservation State Park in Niagara Falls, New York. The Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu Association is responsible for overseeing the Cymanfaoedd Ganu held in North America.
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College Alumni Profile: Megan Welsh-Meier
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Gymanfa
Transcription
My name is Megan Welsh. I'm the owner of Higher Ground Green Roofs, and a graduate of the College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences. I started Higher Ground Green Roofs to be a local hub for information about green roofs but also I do consultation, design, installation, and maintenance on green roofs. I have a combined degree in construction systems management and horticulture. I combined the two because I wanted to work in the green roof industry. And I chose Ohio State because through the College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences, through their honors program, I could combine the two and kind of customize my own program. One of my favorite classes was taught by Dr. Ellen Mosley-Thompson. It was on the debate of global climate change, and that was an honors environmental sciences class. And the other one has to be Victoria Chen's green building class. It was only in its, I think second quarter when I took the class and it was pretty new, but it was the first exposure a lot of students got to LEED certification and some green building technologies. It was really great. After taking Victoria Chen's green building class, I had the opportunity to apply all of that information to a real life case study. We studied different green building certifications including LEED and helped the homeowners take that construction project through the LEED process and get certified. I have made so many friendships and so many relationships during my time here at Ohio State, from, especially being a part of this green roof project, I got involved in different architecture programs in the office of energy and the environment. Certainly many friends in the horticulture department I remain close with, and through the gardening, the masters gardeners program here. For students that want to get involved in the green industry, I think that if you have the idea, if you can dream it up, Ohio State University has the resources to make it happen here.
History
The Gymanfa Ganu at Niagara Falls was the first National Gymanfa Ganu (Guh-mahn'-va Gahn'-ee) to be held in the United States. Although exact estimates are unknown, it is believed that 3,000 were in attendance.[1] The Welsh Americans of Youngstown, Ohio are generally given the majority of credit for helping to perpetuate this movement. However, there were many others involved in the planning for the event. Delegations from Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan, traveling by train and auto to Niagara Falls, were joined there by equally enthusiastic Welsh from Ontario. After the success of the first Gymanfa Ganu, plans were already being made for another Gymanfa at Niagara Falls the following year. An organizational structure was put into place with Will Lewis (Youngstown, Ohio) as President; Ellis Hughes (Niagara Falls, New York) as Vice President; Dave Lewis (Youngstown, Ohio) as Secretary; and W. B. Jones (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) as Treasurer. This was the beginning of what has been known as the "Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu Association", renamed in 2011 to "Welsh North American Association" or WNAA.
This change was adopted at the September 3, 2011, Annual General Meeting of The Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu Association, in Cleveland, Ohio, in recognition of the broadened mission of the organization. This mission is stated as "to preserve, develop and promote our Welsh cultural heritage including, but not limited to, the Gymanfa Ganu, literature, cultural traditions..." (see Official Website link below)
With the exception of three years during World War II (1943–1945), a Gymanfa Ganu (commonly just referred to as a National) has been held in North America every year since 1929. In 1969 the Gymanfa was held in Cardiff, and in 1974 in Swansea, both in Wales (there were two Nationals held in North America in each of those two years, but both are not included in the official count).
The Board of Trustees of the WNGGA is the unifying force that provides the institutional memory, selects sites for the annual cymanfaoedd, provides general guidance and supervision, and assures that desired cultural and religious standards are maintained. Following suspension of the national cymanfaoedd during the war years of 1943-45, it was the Board of the WNGGA that made sure the national Gymanfa Ganu was reactivated and has continued since as the preeminent expression of Welsh culture, heritage, and the Welsh language in the United States and Canada.
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This page was last edited on 11 February 2024, at 21:50