The Montgomery Lives project with Montgomery C in W school

My Ancestors in a Human Pyramid (after Jonathan Edwards)

by Pat Edwards

The ‘Montgomery Lives’ project with Montgomery C in W school in June 2021 was led by composer/ Musician, Ian Morgan-Williams and poet, Pat Edwards.

Pat and Ian had previously worked in the school for Mid Wales Opera during lockdown, and managed to deliver their project with children online. This time because of the change in regulations were able to work with children in school rather than on MSTeams.

Ian and Pat worked with the children in year 4,5 and 6 to share the stories of Catrin Mortimer and Magdalen Herbert, and to think about the roles they and other remarkable women had played in our history. Pat wrote a poem focussing on how we learn from our ancestors, which Ian put to music and the children learned.

 The children then worked on a choice of three writing exercises:- a letter from Sir Edmund Mortimer asking Owain Glyndwr for Catrin’s hand in marriage; a poem about the view from Montgomery Castle; a speech to motivate either Glyndwr’s army or Thomas Herbert’s navy before impending battle.

Some say Adam and Eve were the first, wandering around the heavenly garden. Closer to home my mum gives a leg up to her dear old mum in woolly tights.
I like how families help one another out, and the women show solidarity. Soon it’ll be my turn to carry the can, keep the generations going, that’s the plan.
Up I go clinging on for dear life, admiring the view, the clean air at this height. So here comes cousin Harri, my niece baby Flo, like a dumpling on my head.
And now to why we’re here, all piled up in a heap: remembering who came before always feels kinda neat, gives us something to build upon.

All words and music copyright Ian Morgan Williams and Pat Edwards and may not be reproduced without express permission for the author and composer