Bryn Betws bikers, pontrhydyfen

Way back in July 2025 Sweyn’s Ey were invited by Georgina
Tucker to dance at Bryn Bettws lodge on Saturday 25th April 2026
 for a group of her friends who were spending the
weekend cycling in the Afan Argoed Forest Park area.

We were asked to keep it a secret as Georgina was planning to
surprise her friends with some unusual entertainment.
Our musician Kevin and dancers Alex Heney, Alison Haworth,
Ben, Claire, Nige and Paul had spent the day on the Cardiff
Morris annual valleys tour so were well warmed up. We were
joined by three additional dancers (Alex Dixon, Geoff and
Keith) and musician, Roger. Most of us met at The Brit pub in
Cwmafan and travelled in convoy to the venue, parking out of
sight of Georgina’s guests to maintain the element of surprise.
We were greeted by a very enthusiastic bunch of women who
cheered as we arrived and clapped along in time when we
danced our first dance (British Grenadiers). Ben was on form
as squire raising many a laugh as he explained who we are and
what we do.

They were eager to have a go themselves so we launched into
Brighton Camp. We had 9 dancers and there were 18 guests,
we performed the dance twice so everyone could take part.
We then danced Speed the Plough; they loved the elegance of
our handkerchieves.
They were keen for more dancing so we taught them Lads a
Bunchum and once again we performed it twice so all of the
guests could experience the joy of bruised knuckles.

We finished the dancing with Bonny Green Garters when once
again our delightful singing rang through the valley.
We were expecting to spend half an hour with them but were
there for over an hour and a half and had much more fun than
we had anticipated. They all seemed to enjoy the evening and
we spent quite a while chatting once the dancing was over.
It was a very successful outing and everyone had a great time,
as the photos attest. Not only that but we were paid so more
money in the coffers to fund our upcoming 60th anniversary
celebrations.

We all agreed that we’d do it again if we were asked.

​Words by Nigel Haworth, Pics by Paul and Others.