Clera - The First Ten Years

In September 1994, Stephen Rees was invited by the producer-director Gwyndaf Roberts (Ar Log) to present an item on the Dim Ond Celf programme on S4C. The subject was the folk revival in the North East of England. He went to Newcastle to interview Alistair Anderson (director of Folkworks) the well known piper Kathryn Tickell, and also to the Rothbury Festival to record a workshop and a Northumbrian pipe competition.

That visit impressed him greatly and on his return to Wales he shared his enthusiasm with Wyn Thomas, a colleague in the Music Department of University of Wales, Bangor. He described the success of Folkworks and their 'Workouts', workshops which focused on the instrumental tradition, an emphasis that was quite rare in Wales.

Wyn Thomas organised the first 'Folk Workshop' in April 1995, with support from the University's Lifelong Learning Department. The tutors on that first workshop were Robin Huw Bowen (triple harp), Andy McLauchlin (flute/whistle), Stephen Rees & Huw Roberts (fiddle) and Llio Rhydderch (pedal harp).

Over the next year, a number of meetings were held to discuss establishing a national movement to promote the instrumental tradition. Another folk workshop was organised in Cowbridge in the Spring of 1996 and the society was launched officially in the Llandeilo National Eisteddfod in August 1996.


Siân Phillips with a fidle workshop in Aberystwyth, 1997.

In addition to the tutors, several individuals worked hard to ensure success in the early years: Wyn Thomas, the organiser of the early workshops and the first secretary of the society; the harpist Elonwy Wright (the representative in the south-east); and the president of the society, the late Frances Môn Jones, who gave the society her wholehearted support on the committee of the Welsh Amateur Music Federation.

COTC – Cymdeithas Offerynnau Traddodiadol Cymru – concentrated from the outset on organising Workshops in various parts of the country to create a new interest and to offer tuition from experienced players.

In July 2003 Arfon Gwilym was elected Secretary, to succeed Stephen Rees. Later on in the same year, a new title was adopted which was easier to pronounce than COTC - Clera; a new Constitution was agreed and a new logo designed.

THE FIRST TEN YEARS