This week two very separate parts of my life collided in an unexpected fashion. The common ground was…Newfoundland.
Now, I have never been to Newfoundland and I probably never will, but I have always had a feeling of great affection for this land on the most easterly part of North America. And the reason… my dad. My father rarely talked about the horrors of his war, but he always spoke of Newfoundland as being a place of peace and safety and lots of American chocolate!!
When talking about Newfoundland many mention its unique ‘bone structure’. In a book by Lisa Moore one character says,
“God finished making the world and had a lot of rocks left over, so he dumped them on Newfoundland”
That rugged landscape and the need to fight to survive has resulted in a people who can be both direct as well as funny. Jan Morris the famous Welsh travel writer once said,
‘Newfoundland, hits you like a smack in the face with a dried cod, enthusiastically administered by its citizenry.’
Anyway I’ll come back to my dad in a moment.
Last summer I went to the North American Festival of Wales in Pittsburgh. Every year people with Welsh connections (and none) come together from all over the continent to celebrate all things Welsh. As well as the seminars and ‘Cymanfa Ganu’s’ there is a chance to meet and chat to people usually over a cup of tea and a Welsh Cake. That was how I met the Singer and Choir Conductor Mari Morgan.
Mari comes from Llanelli and emigrated to America in 1996. Within 2 years she had founded the North American Welsh Choir – Cor Cymry Gogledd America. The choir brings together people from across the USA and Canada. They meet regularly online and occasionally in person to rehearse for wherever their next tour will take them. As well as performing all over North America they have also toured New Zealand and of course back home in Wales.
I wasn’t long back from Pennsylvania when I got an email from Mari. In 2025 The choir were heading to Newfoundland for a series of concerts. Would I write them a new song especially for the tour?
After a few chats over zoom I started doing some research. When writing anything, whether it be a song or a blog, you need the ‘key’; something that anchors the project, something you can build on. It wasn’t long before I found any number of videos online about Newfoundland and especially the way ‘Newfies’ talk. The Europeans have been going to this part of the world since the days of the Vikings in 1000 AD. It would be 4-500 years later that more settlers would come from England, Portugal, France, Holland and Spain usually attracted by the fish.
In 1616 here was an attempt to create a Welsh settlement ‘Cambriol’ or ‘Little Wales’. Sadly by 1630 after years of disputes with the local French colonists and terrible weather the dream was over.
It’s not surprising that with all of these people and languages Newfies have their own dialect. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Newfies actually say, ‘Where to you going’. This reminded me of my old drummer from Manselton who’s nickname in London was ‘Car-to’ because he would often use that Swansea-ism ‘where’s your car to?’
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It was whilst watching one of these videos that I heard the phrase ‘Splittin’ the rocks’. The idea was that the weather was so hot that it was warm enough to split the Newfoundland rocks. The weather on that Atlantic coast can be changeable and harsh but on those glorious summer days ‘Splitting’ the Rocks’ was the weather they longed for. Once I had that ‘key’ I was off and running.
It was last week that I got a message from my big brother David that he and his wife had been going through my dad’s papers and scanning them for the whole family to read. Later in life my dad had decided to write down the story of his war years.
With Newfoundland very much on my mind I couldn’t wait to read what my father had to say about that time in his life. I remember him telling me about all the joys of landing at the American base in Argentia Bay but reading his words chilled me to the bone. Prior to arriving in Newfoundland my father had just had his first real taste of war.
(My nephew Richard Pope, named after his grandfather, used Google Gemini to analyse and convert to text my father’s handwritten Notes.)
‘On the night of Guy Fawkes celebration, Nov 5th, 1943, came my first real close contact with the enemy. U 226 was one of a number of U Boats in a “Wolf Pack” combing the Convoy Routes from Newfoundland on a “Great Circle” course to the Northern limits of the Western Approaches. For many of the young German Sailors, it was towards the end of, what was for them, a fruitless and fatal mission in a failing campaign. They went on watch, were sea-sick, practised many drills and manoeuvres. They little knew that their signals and enemy- coded messages were being de- coded and conveyed to the Skippers of ships in the Second Escort Group.’
My father goes on to describe how the depth charges his ship launched exploded. There soon followed thick black diesel and all the detritus covering the surface of the sea. Everything you would expect from a U Boat blown to smithereens include its 51 crew members.
‘Now short of fuel, low on food supplies we made for Newfoundland. On we slowly went, through the clinging blanket of Newfoundland fog, desperately making for the shelter of the American base at Argentia. We were line-stern following as sheep the vessel ahead.
Finally we tied up in a wide but desolate Bay. Safety had come at last, but on a lonely and wintry shore.
The Yanks were in Argentina Bay in great force. On top of the high cliffs was a tremendous American canteen, stocked from floor to ceiling with Candy – Chocolates, Sweets, Milky Way, Cream Bars, Ice Cream and other delicacies in abundance. The hamburgers and Coca Cola were in abundance. After the darkness and peril of the North Atlantic, we had reached Elysium itself.
All of us stocked our kit bags with “Nutty” – i.e. chocolate, Milky Bars, Milky Ways all by the dozen were snaffled-up by the ratings in our group.
After their tour of the North Atlantic my father was given leave to spend Christmas at Home in Wales.
Pontrhydyfen at Christmas, 1943, was most welcome. Dad gave all the Sunday- -School children bags of the chocolate I had brought back from Newfoundland
The North American Welsh Choir’s 2025 Tour starts on the 2nd July In Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island and includes a concert at Gandar Airport, famous for the hospitality shown to passengers stranded there on diverted planes on 911. It appears Newfoundland has always been a place that looks after strangers just like they did for my dad.