Wales Feed

The Celtic Manor

2010-12-14T10:46:57+00:00

The Ryder Cup of 2010 has been over for some months now, the cup safely tucked away in the trophy cabinet of the R&A - at least for the next two years.

Thousands of golf fans defied the rain and mud to descend on the Celtic Manor in October.

There is no doubt that it was a fantastic occasion, for golf and for Wales, and despite the rain the Celtic Manor proved to be the ideal host venue. People across the world saw the scenes and, perhaps for the first time in their lives, realised what a beautiful country Wales was.

But what about the Celtic Manor itself? How much do we know about its history?

Well, for a start it sits smack on a number of old Roman roads, the Via Julia being the most important. If you are interested in the history of Roman Britain this could be the ideal place to make a start.

The Roman involvement in Wales was limited - the people were far too warlike to allow easy access. But the legionary fort at Caerleon lies only a mile or so away from Celtic Manor and this was one of the most important military garrisons in the northern extremities of the Roman Empire.

It was a frontier fort and was always full of soldiers and the "hangers on" who accompanied any military establishment in those days.

A little further on is the Roman town of Caerwent, a significant settlement that needed to be guarded. And in order for soldiers to move quickly about there needed to be roads - hence the fact that Celtic Manor sits astride at least three of them.

Of course, we now know the place as a hotel and golfing complex. The house that formed the basis for the first hotel on the site was built in the 1860s and was called Coldra House.

It was the home of Thomas Powell Jnr, then Chairman and owner of the Powell-Duffryn works and coal mines. Unfortunately he did not live in the house for long as he, his wife and young son were murdered while on holiday in Abyssinia.

The body of Powell's son was never recovered and this led to several ghoulish suggestions in the local press of the time, even to accusations of cannibalism by the natives. Such suggestions were highly unlikely but in the 1860s anywhere abroad was considered exotic.

Coldra House remained in the Powell family, being leased out, until 1915 when it was sold to shipping magnate Sir John Beynon.

He added a new wing and made several other alterations but in the late 1930s he donated the buildings to the local Health Authority. Coldra House became a maternity hospital, opening on 1 January 1940.

Before the hospital closed its doors in 1975 it is reckoned that over 60,000 babies were born there. One of them was Sir Terry Matthews who, with the old house boarded up and ready for demolition, decided that it still had a part to play in the life of Newport - and Wales.

Sir Terry, founder of Mitel and Newbridge Networks in Canada, was also Chair of Celtic Inns and hoped to turn the old hospital into a top quality hotel complex.

The original plan was for a 17 bedroom hotel and an 18 hole golf course. The hotel duly opened in 1982 but the golf course was delayed and did not come into operation until the 1990s.

Since then the hotel has been extended and developed and now has over 300 rooms and several conference centres. There are three separate hotels - the Resort Hotel, the Manor House and The Newbridge on Usk, just a few miles away, and a total of three golf courses - the Twenty Ten, the Roman Road and the Montgomerie.

The 2010 Ryder Cup was played on the Twenty Ten Course, the first golf course ever designed and built specifically for the Ryder Cup. Thousands of golf fans, European and American, defied the rain and mud to descend on the Celtic Manor.

They came, primarily, to watch the golf but it would be good to think that some of them at least stopped to consider the fascinating history of the hotel and the area - and, more importantly, to make a conscious decision to come back at some stage in the future.

Welsh-American place names

2010-10-01T07:26:32+00:00

A census taken in 2008 revealed that there were approximately 1.98 million Americans with a surname that had Welsh origins.

The star-spangled banner

Many of these, incidentally, were African Americans. There are hundreds of black Americans with names like Evans, Jones and Thomas and these are usually of Welsh origin. It comes from the old slave tradition of workers taking the names of their masters and would therefore seem to indicate that many of the plantation owners - or, at least, the overseers - were Welsh. Not exactly something we should boast or be unduly happy about.

But quite apart from people's names there are also lots of American towns and cities that are named after original settlements in Wales. Some of them are well known.

So we have Bangor in Maine, Newport on Rhode Island, even Swansea in Massachusetts. Yet not many Welshmen and women realise that there are no fewer than 10 Cardiffs in the States. These can be found in Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, New York and Texas. That takes some imagining, doesn't it?

It's easy to see why immigrants to the USA should choose to name their new villages after places they knew and remembered in the old world. It meant a degree of security and familiarity in a strange and, in the early days at least, largely untamed land. When death and destruction could visit at any moment, in the shape of disease or famine, raiding war parties of Native Americans, even from Britain's traditional enemies like the French, it was important to keep some semblance of normality alive. It was something firm and tangible to hold onto.

In later years, once America had achieved independence from Britain and begun to develop as an industrial and economic power of major proportions, people from Wales continued to settle in the States. Many of these were coal and steel workers, eager to start a new and better life. And that is why many Welsh immigrants settled in areas of Pennsylvania.

Welsh settlement in Pennsylvania had been going on for many years, mind you. Thanks to the efforts of William Penn in the late 17th century, the Welsh Tract was created. This consisted of 40,000 acres of land in Pennsylvania, most of the settlers being Welsh Quakers. Welsh was the predominant language spoken in the region and this was reflected in the place names of many of the towns that soon grew up. Places such as Bryn Mawr, Lower and Upper Meirion, Radnor and Haverford still exist and remain proud of their Welsh origins.

There are so many other towns and cities with names of Welsh origin in America. Some of them have fascinating histories.

Malad City in Idaho, for example, was created in the mid 19th century as a Welsh Mormon Settlement. And five towns in Maryland were built between 1850 and 1942 to house Welsh quarry workers who had made the dangerous trip across the Atlantic to work in the local quarries.

Dozens of Welsh-American societies meet on regular basis in all parts of the USA. Along with the surnames of thousands of Americans and the names of their cities they are part of a strong and undying link between the USA and the old country from which so many early settlers came.

Feel free to comment! If you want to have your say, on this or any other BBC blog, you will need to sign in to your BBC iD account. If you don't have a BBC iD account, you can register here - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of BBC sites and services using a single login.

Need some assistance? Read about BBC iD, or get some help with registering.

By train to Wales - and the Ryder Cup

2010-09-30T11:41:50+00:00

Many people travelling to watch this year's Ryder Cup golf matches between the USA and Europe will be coming to Wales for the very first time. Many will be arriving by train and for many that journey will begin at Bristol Temple Meads railway station.

Statue of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

The original Temple Meads station, as designed by the great engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was opened in 1840 and is not the one currently in use. Parts of the old station are still in existence, however, sitting alongside the new one and are best seen from outside the station as you make your way to the platforms.

They sit at right angles to the newer structure, on your left as you gaze at the station complex. This is the world's oldest surviving railway terminus and looks far more like a Victorian mansion than a railway station. Although it was replaced by the modern station in 1878, parts of the old station were still in use in the 1960s.

The 'new' station serviced trains from the Great Western and Midlands Railways, as well as local and regional railways, and remains an elegant and engaging piece of architecture. It has a wonderful Gothic front and the internal canopies, wide and spacious, give the station a very period feel.

Leaving Bristol Temple Meads we are headed, now, into Wales. But before we cross beneath the Severn Estuary, take time to look out to the left for Filton Aircraft Factory. Here they built aeroplanes like the Britannia, one of the main passenger aircraft of the 1950s, and carried out the initial research on Concorde. Indeed, the supersonic passenger aeroplane took off on its first test flight from Filton in 1969 and transatlantic flights were made from here to New York in 1977. A Concorde aircraft has been preserved at the far west of the runway.

Both the first and second Severn Road Bridges can be seen as the train hurtles towards the estuary. The first bridge was opened in September 1966 and since that time has carried millions of vehicles from England into Wales - and vice versa. The second Severn crossing was built when the original way into Wales became too congested. Construction began in 1992 and the bridge was opened by Prince Charles in 1996.

Take time to gather your breath because now the train disappears into the dark immensity of the Severn Tunnel. Work began on the tunnel in 1873, with excavation beginning on both sides of the estuary at once. It was built to replace a ferry service across the waterway - the only other railway route into this part of Wales was via Gloucester and that took several hours of tedious travel.

The tunnel was almost finished when, in 1879, a major problem was encountered - the Great Spring. Water suddenly rushed into the tunnel and flooded the workings. It took several years to divert the water and the bravery of the divers who were involved in the process cannot be exaggerated.

Now massive pumps work around the clock, pumping out 20 million gallons of water each day. The fresh water from the Great Spring is currently being used by a brewery but, in the past, it was also used in the nearby naval propellant factory at Caerwent. The Severn Tunnel is over four miles in length and until the Channel Tunnel was opened was the longest mainline railway tunnel in Britain.

The route now, between Severn Tunnel Junction and Newport, takes the traveller through land that is neither English nor Welsh but looks more Dutch in appearance and topography. Look out for the remains of Llanwern Steelworks, a reminder that this part of Wales was once the steel-producing centre of the world. Also, on the right hand side of the train, the golf club at Llanwern runs for several hundred yards alongside the track. This is one of the most picturesque of all Welsh golf courses and anyone staying in the Newport area for the Ryder Cup is advised to try to play the course before they leave.

Watch out for the Transporter Bridge as your train pulls into Newport - it is a distant view but this Grade 1 listed building is the symbol of the city and should be visited if at all possible. Several other bridges cross the River Usk and just before you pass into the station look to the left.

The remains of Newport Castle, the original building being a 12th Century fortress built to protect the river crossing, sit on the bank and can be clearly seen from the train. What you see now, however, is a more modern structure, built after the raids of Owain Glyndwrin the early 1400s. There's not much of the building left these days, just a few walls and towers, but it is easy to see the majesty and strength of its position.

Newport itself is a famous place. The early Celts and the Romans came and lived here, as did Jasper, uncle of the future Henry VII.

The Chartist rising of 1839 took place in the town, the Chartists being working men and women who demanded, amongst other things, equal rights for all, a secret vote in elections and professional MPs who were paid a living wage. It did not work, of course, and the rising was brutally put down by the government of the day.

The railway route into Wales is a fascinating way to travel - it could seriously enhance your experience during this year's Ryder Cup matches.

Need some assistance? Read about BBC iD, or get some help with registering.

By car to Wales - and the Ryder Cup

2010-09-28T13:19:02+00:00

Over the next few days hundreds of visitors, American mainly but possibly European as well, will be flying into Heathrow Airport and then heading west to watch this year's Ryder Cup golf matches at the Celtic Manor. Many of them won't give the scenery even a second glance as they hurry towards the Celtic Manor but, should they decide to look up and scan the view outside the windows of their car or bus, there is a world of fascinating history out there waiting to greet them.

Let's start with Heathrow itself. Now the world's busiest airport - planes land or take off, on average, once every 90 seconds - this was originally an airfield created for the Royal Flying Corps (forerunner of the RAF) in 1916. The airfield was transferred to the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 1946 and, strange to say when you hurry through any one of the present five terminals, it is amusing to remember that the original passenger terminal here was situated in a tent!

Windsor Castle is the largest and oldest occupied castle in the world.

Heading west down the M4 motorway, look out for Windsor Castle on your left just after the town of Slough. The castle is dominated by the Round Tower, one of the finest in Europe. It is worth remembering that this once powerful military stronghold has now been converted into a royal residence so watch out for the royal standard flying above the castle. If it's there the Queen is in residence.

Between Slough and Reading you will see several old gravel pits, on both sides of the motorway. Originally the source for beds of highly valuable gravel and sand these excavated pits are now boating/water sport lakes and, of course, are also home to a wide range of wildlife.

You cannot see Reading from the M4 but if you wish to take a little time out of your journey look out for Reading Gaol. This impressive red brick building was where Oscar Wilde was incarcerated at the end of the 19th century and was where he wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol.

Red Dragon steam engine is one of the engines that can be seen at STEAM Museum of the Great Western Railway.

Both Didcot and Swindon - they will require a short detour - are old railway centres and both house excellent railway museums. Swindon was once home to the largest railway works on the Great Western Railway - by 1920 it was employing 14,000 men and women, building carriages and repairing engines. The works have long since been closed but the Steam Museum is well worth a visit.

You might be lucky as you travel westwards. Look to your left just before the turning for Calne and see if you can spot an RAF Hercules doing 'circuits and bumps' on the aerodrome at RAF Lyneham. You can't see the airfield as it sits behind a high ridge but the aircraft are nearly always there, flying parallel to the motorway and then disappearing gracefully from view behind the hill.

Heading on into Wales, the city of Bristol lies on your left. As you crest the hill above the low flat plain of the River Severn a magical view awaits you. The river is wide here - perhaps as much as a mile - and the two Severn Bridges, the first one to your right, the second to your left, sit in regal solemnity ahead of you. There is a choice to be made - which route do you take?

If you choose the old or original bridge, now carrying the M48 rather than the M4, you can stop off in Chepstow and take a quick look at the town's magnificent Norman castle. Founded by William Fitz Osbern, Earl of Hereford, in about 1067, Chepstow Castle has the distinction of being the first stone-built castle in Britain. It has a perfect situation, high above the river and what used to be a tidal harbour - virtually impregnable. The town itself is a pretty little border settlement set on the side of the steep hill.

Second Severn crossing. Photo by Jim Clune.

The newer bridge is more functional. It was opened in 1996 and is so constructed as to remain open whatever the strength of the wind howling up the Estuary - which is more than can be said of the original bridge.

And so on to Newport. Celtic Manor sits high above the motorway, dominating the road and the way in. Look to your right just before the hotel and you will see one of the three golf courses that the complex boasts. This is not the Ryder Cup course, this is the new Montgomerie Course, designed by Europe's captain - well worth playing if you are staying on once the fate of the Cup has been decided.

Need some assistance? Read about BBC iD, or get some help with registering.

The oldest golf clubs in Wales

2010-09-16T12:08:42+00:00

As most of us know, this October sees the European golf team take on America as the Ryder Cup comes to the Celtic Manor outside Newport, Wales.

Hopefully lots of visitors from "over the pond" will be coming to the country, possibly for the first time, and as well as watching golf they might also like to play on what are now regarded as some of the finest courses to be found anywhere in Britain.

There are some wonderful golf courses in Wales, the like of which most Americans will never have seen. There are mountain top courses where the wind and rain batter at the fairways all year long. There are glorious stretches of links where deep heather and gorse are augmented by sand traps that sometimes feel a mile deep. And there are parkland layouts, beautifully manicured and a delight to the eye.

There are nine hole courses, 18 hole courses - even an 11 hole course. There are courses that are flat, courses that often seem best suited for mountain goats. There is, quite literally, something for everyone.

But which is actually the oldest course in Wales? Golf in the Principality is a relatively new sport, even though the game itself has been around for centuries.

View of the 13th hole at Tenby. Image kindly supplied by Tenby Golf Club.

Tenby is usually reckoned to be the oldest Welsh golf course, the club being founded in 1888. However, it is on record that the Mayor of Tenby once actually adjourned a court in order to play a round of golf on the sand hills to the west of the town. That was in 1875 so it is clear that golf was being played in the area long before the club was actually founded.

Tenby is now one of the best and most atmospheric courses in the country. It borders the Bristol Channel and has magnificent views out towards Caldey Island and, on a fine day, far off Lundy as well. You won't find many trees here but you will find plenty of gorse and sand traps and you only have to play it once to realise why Tenby has hosted so many major championship events.

Borth and Ynyslas sits by a beach. Image kindly supplied by Borth and Ynyslas Golf Club.

Borth and Ynyslas, on the shores of Cardigan Bay just north of Aberystwyth, also lays claims to be the oldest club in Wales. Although that accolade has been given to Tenby, members at Borth claim that their club was in existence by 1885, some three years earlier.

The course at Borth and Ynyslas sits on the margins of a fine sandy beach, being set amongst the deep and rolling sand dunes of Ynyslas. It is one of the most picturesque of all Welsh courses but when the wind blows in off the Irish Sea - a wind that sometimes seems to blow vertically and horizontally at the same time - it is undoubtedly one of the hardest.

Club house at Pontnewydd, near Cwmbran. Image kindly supplied by Pontnewydd Golf Club.

The other course with claims of longevity is Pontnewydd, just five or six miles away from the Celtic Manor Resort, on the fringes of Cwmbran. Club members and local historians insist that the club was up and running by 1875, well before either Tenby or Borth and Ynyslas.

It is, however, unfortunate that there is no documentary evidence to prove this claim, one way or another. Members will tell of players coming by train, then walking or driving in horse pulled brakes that were lined up in ranks outside the station, waiting expectantly for the journey up to the course.

Pontnewydd is now an 11 hole mountainside course. Players tackle the existing holes and then play seven of them again, albeit from different tee positions. It is a quirky and unusual golf course, one you will either immediately fall in love with or hate on sight.

Wherever you choose to play in Wales, history sits waiting to greet you. All of the clubs have wonderful old photographs on their walls, showing past members and events - and they all have staff and players who are more than happy to sit and talk about past glories and the state of the game today.

The modern courses of Wales, places like Celtic Manor and the Vale of Glamorgan, are fine tests of golf and are well worth a visit. But if you want to experience the history of Welsh golf then take time to visit places like Tenby, Borth and Ynyslas and Pontnewydd. You will not be disappointed.

Need some assistance? Read about BBC iD, or get some help with registering.

Ryder Cup Heritage Exhibition comes to the Celtic Manor

2010-09-15T12:36:17+00:00

An exhibition illustrating the rich history of the Ryder Cup golf tournament is to go on display at the Celtic Manor resort from 27 September to 3 October.

Ryder Cup Heritage Exhibition at National Museum Cardiff

The Ryder Cup Heritage Exhibition is currently on show at the National Museum Cardiff, and has previously been staged at Newport's Riverfront arts centre. It will move to the tented village at the Celtic Manor in Newport during the 2010 tournament, and will be open only to Ryder Cup ticket holders.

A collection of Ryder Cup memorabilia, including archive photography, historic signed programmes and menus, team gifts and equipment, will bring to life the competition's 83-year history, from humble beginnings to the present day.

Councillor Matthew Evans, Leader of Newport City Council, said:

This is another great opportunity for local people to get up close and personal with The Ryder Cup. The history of the event and how it made its way to our city will make for a fascinating exhibition and will complement the exciting events programme taking place across Newport in celebration of 2010.

Is golf missing a birdie?

2010-09-15T11:17:00+00:00

With Ryder Cup fever approaching, I thought I'd look for a nature angle on this year's tournament and golf courses in particular.

Traditionally, golf courses don't have a particularly good reputation for being wildlife friendly - mainly due to the amount of pesticides and water used to keep the greens looking pristine.

It's ironic when you consider the sport's environmentally friendly origins when men in Scotland wandered around hitting pebbles with sticks.

Five hundred years or so later and British golfers had rapidly fallen in love with America's green and sterile courses and wanted the same back home. But perfect greens come with a hefty environmental price tag.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that acres of green grass would be good for the environment but without wild plants to attract the insects and the birds and mammals to eat them - they simply become green deserts.

Then of course there's the construction of the courses themselves - digging up habitats to create all the twists and turns of the course as well as all the bunkers and water hazards.

Even the 'water hazards' can become devoid of life - becoming contaminated with pesticides after periods of heavy rain.

Besides the pest control, golf courses consume a staggering amount of water. A Unesco World Water Development report found that an 18-hole golf course can use as much as 2.3 million litres of water every day! Which isn't an easy statistic to swallow in our current world climate.

BBC Panorama recently covered the state of 'Britain's disappearing wildlife'. In that programme, Pavan Sukhdev from the UN Environment Programme stated that businesses in the future are going to have to re-think the way they operate and become far more environmentally aware; if we're to avoid paying higher food and water prices.

But it's not all doom and gloom as some golf courses are now turning their backs on this unsustainable method of land management.

Conservation groups such as the RSPB actually believe that golf courses can become wildlife sanctuaries for struggling bird populations such as skylarks, woodlarks and corn buntings.

So, golf courses can actually be good for wildlife - especially coastal courses which have an array of different habitats and species.

A golfer about to tee-off

Roughly 140,000 hectares of out-of-bounds areas exist on UK golf courses which could be used as wildlife highways to create natural corridors between rural and urban habitats - something the Wildlife Trusts are already doing via their Living Landscape initiative.

New Malton Golf Club is an 18-hole course in Hertfordshire, which claims to have been chemical-free for a year, and is planning to apply to the Soil Association for organic certification.

The course's out-of-bounds areas are currently home to woodpeckers, kestrels, owls, pheasants, hares, rabbits and stoats and the owners also plan to graze animals and grow fruit on the land.

Many golf courses in the UK also overlap into SSSIs (Sites of Special Scientific Interest).

The Royal St David's Course in Gwynedd is one such site and lies within the Morfa Harlech SSSI - designated for its coastal and fixed dune grassland and diversity of wildlife.

The course has a careful programme of land management and over the years has trialled many different techniques for grass cutting and managing it's rough areas.

The Royal St David's Course. Image courtesy of Visit Wales

Parts of the course wind their way through sand hills and species-rich dune plain grasslands.

Dune areas are often left untouched apart from the occasional scrub or tree removal whilst grassy areas are trimmed to various sizes throughout the year to suit both wildlife and golfers alike.

The out-of bounds areas provide excellent habitat for skylark, meadow pipit, brown hare, amphibians and rodent species which in turn provide food for kestrels and owls. Meanwhile bare sections of the course provide ideal basking habitat for rare sand lizards.

So, the Ryder Cup course has a lot to live up to; as the eyes of the world focus in on Wales for three days this October.

Jim McKenzie, Director of Golf Courses and Estates Management at The Celtic Manor Resort, said: "The Twenty Ten course was built in harmony with its environment and with the close consideration for protected species like otters, toads and dormice."

The third hole on the Twenty Ten course. Image courtesy of the Celtic Manor Resort

"Since its conversion from intensive farmland, many indigenous grasses, plants and wildlife have returned to the land upon which the course is built".

"All the golf courses feature 100 per cent self-sustained irrigation with rain water taken from these lakes and a specially constructed reservoir".

"We are committed to continually improving our own management to ensure care for the environment continues to be a feature of The Celtic Manor Resort's staging of The 2010 Ryder Cup."

There is also a lot of work under way to look at how the event's carbon footprint can be effectively managed by identifying the main greenhouse gas generating activities and looking at ways of reducing them.

So, it would appear that golf courses can be both good and bad for the environment, depending on how they are managed.

Golf courses are ultimately designed for human enjoyment but if managed correctly - taking into account: nature conservation, the landscape, cultural heritage, water useage, turf grass management, waste and energy consumption - they can provide vital habitat for wildlife of all shapes and sizes.

Dame Shirley Bassey to headline Ryder Cup concert

2010-09-07T09:18:44+00:00

Dame Shirley Bassey has been announced as the headline act for the Welcome To Wales Ryder Cup concert at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

The concert, to be held on 29 September, will be the first time the Welsh diva will have performed in her native country for five years. She will be joined as previously announced by Lostprophets, Shaheen Jafargholi, Only Men Aloud and Katherine Jenkins.

Dame Shirley said: "I'm honoured to be asked to perform at Welcome to Wales and proud to be part of such a fantastic celebration for The 2010 Ryder Cup.

"This is a huge opportunity for Wales and with Katherine Jenkins and Catherine Zeta Jones also taking part, we'll certainly be adding the glitz and glamour to golf. I can't wait."

Newport Transporter Bridge

2010-08-31T23:00:00+00:00

The transporter bridge in Newport is an iconic symbol, the one structure that any visitor to the town has to see. It is one of only three such bridges in Britain, one of only eight in the whole world.

Newport Transporter Bridge. Photo: Paul Elliott

The bridge was opened on 12 September 1906. Designed by French engineer Ferdinand Arnodin and built by the contractor Alfred Thorne of Westminster, it was the culmination of many years' discussion and consideration.

There had been numerous proposals for bridges and subways under the River Usk at this eastern end of the town but none of them had come to fruition, mainly due to the nature of the work required and the high cost.

The banks of the river were - and still are - very low at this point and it would have required long steep approach ramps to build a bridge with sufficient height to allow ships to pass underneath. A subway or tunnel would have been prohibitively expensive. A ferry would not do the job as the rise and fall of the river has always been great and at low tide boats would simply not be able to dock.

And so nothing was done until 1896 when John Lysaght proposed building a new steelworks to the south west of the town. In order to attract and encourage him the Borough Council decided that they would have to "bite the bullet" - a crossing of some sort would have to be built.

Borough engineer RH Hayes had heard of transporter bridges and travelled to Rouen to see an example that had been built by Ferdinand Arnodin. The idea of a transporter bridge - in effect an aerial ferry - would eliminate the problem of the low banks and it would be considerably cheaper than excavating a tunnel below the waters of the Usk. Hayes returned convinced, and by 1900 Parliamentary approval had been granted. Work began.

The transporter bridge was to have tall twin towers on either side of the river, reaching up nearly 250 feet into the air, while the horizontal beam from which the transporter platform or gondola was to hang was some 70 feet lower. This gondola would travel the 600 feet above the water at a rate of 10 feet per second.

The transporter bridge cost just £98,124 to construct and was intended to take both vehicles and passengers across the river. At the opening ceremony on 12 September 1906 - the official opening being conducted by Viscount Tredegar - the new bridge was described as:

"A giant with the grace of Apollo and the strength of Hercules."

The bridge has featured in numerous television programmes and films over the years - notably the 1959 film Tiger Bay which gave Hayley Mills her screen début. The film was supposedly set in Cardiff but was shot in Newport, causing many later visitors to Cardiff to ask where their transporter bridge was located.

The bridge has had a chequered history, having been closed for a £3 million refurbishment in 1985. Despite being reopened in 1995 it closed again in 2007, but was reopened once more in the summer of 2010.

When it is fully operational the transporter bridge can cater for up to six light vehicles and 120 pedestrians. It remains the largest of the world's eight transporter bridges and is an important part of Newport's history. With the town likely to be inundated by visitors, from Europe and from the USA, for the 2010 Ryder Cup it is highly likely that this incredible structure - a Grade 1 listed building - will see more visitors in a single month than it usually sees in a whole year.

Need some assistance? Read about BBC iD, or get some help with registering.

Lostprophets headline eclectic Ryder Cup bill

2010-08-20T09:38:05+00:00

Lostprophets, Katherine Jenkins, Only Men Aloud and Shaheen Jafargholi are all part of an... 'eclectic' line-up to celebrate the coming of the Ryder Cup to Wales this year.

The Welcome to Wales event, staged at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on 29 September, will also feature the two Ryder Cup teams, who will be introduced to the crowd.

I'm not exactly sure of the Venn diagram crossover between golf fans and Lostprophets fans, but as this appears to be celebration of Welshness, they're certainly appropriate.

Guitarist Mike Lewis told the Western Mail, "We're very excited to be a part of the Welcome to Wales concert. The tradition of sport is huge in Wales, and we know how important it is to the country that such a massive event like the Ryder Cup is being held here. We're very proud to be part of it."

His band will be sharing a stage not only with the American and European teams, but also the 13 year old Jafargholi (who became known for his appearance on Britain's Got Talent singing Michael Jackson's Who's Loving You), the male voice choir and the pop-opera star. If there's a stranger bill this year I have yet to hear it.

Need some assistance? Read about BBC iD, or get some help with registering.

GLC's alternative Ryder Cup

2010-08-19T09:54:40+00:00

The cream of the world's golfers will be coming to Wales on 1-3 October this year, but the Ryder Cup doesn't do much for the people of Newport, believe Goldie Lookin' Chain.

The rap crew, fresh from the success of their big-up to the city in song, have announced their own golf tournament and gig. On Saturday 25 September the city's municipal golf course will be the venue for a typically-GLC shindig featuring an initial line-up of the band, Olympic athlete Jamie Baulch, Pritchard and Dainton of Dirty Sanchez and our own Bethan Elfyn.

The golf tournament is free for Newport residents to watch, while an evening gig on the same date, at Newport Centre, is £5. The gig will be headlined by the GLC, supported by 2Rude and Dirty Goods.

"Golf can be a bit stuffy, so we're going to do something golf-orientated that everyone in Newport can get involved in. We're going to put the 'olf' back into golf and give something back to the people of Newport," said GLC's P-Xain.

"This is going to be the golf event to end all golf events. They'll probably cancel the Ryder Cup after seeing this," added Emma Corten, organiser.

Need some assistance? Read about BBC iD, or get some help with registering.

Welsh Ryder cup players

2010-05-28T13:40:07+00:00

After something of a false start in 1926 (the USPGA did not sanction the matches which, incidentally, Great Britain won), competition for Samuel Ryder's cup began in earnest in 1927. Since then the games have been played on a two-year cycle, in America and Europe respectively, Europe having replaced Great Britain in the competition in 1979.

Ask any Welsh sports fan for the names of the Welshmen who have played in the Ryder Cup and they will undoubtedly offer Ian Woosnam and Dai Rees - and rightly so. They are probably the two most famous Welsh golfers of all time. But four other Welsh golfers have also played in the competition.

The first Welsh Ryder Cup golfer - and probably the least known of them all - was Bert Hodson. Born in 1905, he began his professional career as a caddie before becoming assistant to Griff Williams at Newport Golf Club. Bert was Welsh Professional Champion on two occasions and while working as club pro at Chigwell Golf Club was chosen to play in the 1931 Ryder Cup.

It was a fairy tale story but, unfortunately, was one that did not have a happy ending. Bert played in only one game and lost to the in-form American Densmore Shute. Dave Thomas, who was involved in a 36 hole play-off for the Open Championship in 1958, was chosen for the Ryder Cup side a year later.

With Dai Rees also in the team it meant that Wales, for the first time, had two representatives. Thomas went on to play in a further three Cups. Brian Huggett played in no fewer than six Ryder Cup teams, captaining the side in 1977, the last time that Great Britain contested the trophy alone. He was instrumental in bringing European players into the competition, thus allowing people like Seve Ballesteros to both play and, later, captain the side.

Dai Rees' first Ryder Cup appearance came in 1937 and he went on to make nine appearances in the competition, five of them as captain. Had it not been for the Second World War, he would undoubtedly have made double figures. Ian Woosnam, Wales' only Major winner, appeared in eight consecutive Cups before captaining the successful 2006 side.

Phillip Price made only one Ryder Cup appearance, in the 2002 series of matches, but nobody should ever forget his magnificent singles victory over Phil Mickelson, then the Number Two golfer in the world.

Whether or not Wales will have a representative in this year's series at Celtic Manor is not yet known.

But when the Ryder Cup comes to Newport it will be one more accolade, one more connection between Wales and golf's most important competition.

Need some assistance? Read about BBC iD, or get some help with registering.

GLC gets into golf, brah

2010-04-20T09:08:21+00:00

Having started work on a spoof documentary with the comedy rappers, students Jonathan Lawrence, Sam Smith-Higgins and Merlyn Phillips decided to ask GLC to come up with an anthem for the event.

Golf Is Coming was the result, featuring their unique take on the event. Smith-Higgins says of the first time Newport Male Voice Choir heard the song: "There was total silence. They all seemed dumbfounded.

"We were dying on our feet, but then they asked us to play the track again. We did, and they started singing along. We have it all on camera for our documentary."

Choir member Chris O'Malley thinks that the track will get a lot of interest. "It's very catchy and there's a lot of humour. This is a great opportunity for Newport's best known sons the GLC, our choir and the film school to come together."

GLC leader P Xain said, "So many people are in to golf. It's huge, bigger than speedway.

"People are even playing on the street or in a field. When I was 15, I had a party at my parents' house and we made our own golf course. Luckily nothing got damaged.

"I went to Blockbusters the other day to rent out a DVD of Happy Gilmore. All the copies had been rented out. That's how excited people are. It's driving people nuts."

Read the full story on BBC News

Ryder Cup concert announced

2010-02-15T10:22:32+00:00

An "all star line-up" of musicians, golfers and celebrities will appear at a concert to celebrate the start of the Ryder Cup on 29 September.

So far no acts have been announced for the Welcome To Wales event but organisers Live Nation told the Western Mail that the event will feature "international superstars including popular Welsh artists".

Assembly First Minister Carwyn Jones said, "This is an ideal way to kick-start proceedings and show the world what Wales has to offer".

Speculation will inevitably start about potential artists for the gig and we at BBC Wales Music will indulge by saying that Manic Street Preachers' Nicky Wire is famed for his love of golf. And their 2007 album was called Send Away The Tigers - surely no coincidence?

Who do you think should appear?