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27th November 2007

After taking the decision to pull out of The Big Welsh Challenge

At this moment in time I don't feel I want to continue. Grav was more than just a mentor. He was a really good friend - he was to so many people but he had a wonderful way of making you feel like you were his very best.

I was enjoying doing The Big Welsh Challenge with Grav with the joy that he had when he saw me take little steps. I was running out of time to get any consistent learning together because it's been such a hectic year. Now that Ray's passed away I feel I really don't want to continue.

It's not that I want to stop learning Welsh - I will continue with that because I think above all else that's what Grav would have wanted - but to bring in somebody as a substitute (mentor) just wouldn't have the same appeal for me. And that's what it's about - it was the appeal of learning Welsh and of learning it with Grav.

It would have been marvellous to sit down and have a small conversation with him because he was the man who was larger than life. Phil Bennett summed it up when he said, "He was simply the man from Mynydd y Garreg." Now he's not here it doesn't feel right. I wish it did feel right and I wish I could continue but I just don't feel it's there within me now.

I can go on further with learning Welsh. I was listening to a documentary about Grav and there were parts of it I started to understand - parts of sentences were making sense to me and that's because of The Big Welsh Challenge.

It's been fun. Learning Welsh is not easy. If you've got time and you can sit down with a teacher for a prolonged period of time you can master some of it. But the enthusiasm Grav had for the Welsh language and for life in general - every challenge I was set it was, "Oh, this can be done!" Grav was definitely a beacon and knowing him made me want to do it more.

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16th November 2007

After performing the first challenge - Singing Sosban Fach at the Children in Need appeal

Simon with the others on stage

I absolutely loved it. I know I sounded dreadful but no worse than anyone else. I love singing - if I could sing that's what I would do.

The rehearsal in the afternoon was painful. When you do anything on stage there's a desire to get public approval and to perform well and that's where the fear comes from. It's being scared of embarrassment. I've learnt to die on my backside.

The learners rehearse in the afternoon

But I thoroughly enjoyed being on stage this evening. I just wish Ray could have been there to see it - he'd have loved it. I'm sure Mari will tell him all about it when she visits his grave.

Please don't make me sing alongside Rhod again. He was a nightmare because he couldn't stop laughing.

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10th September 2007

After preparing with Ray for the third challenge - which involves solving a mystery

Ray presents Simon with his third challenge

I've been away on holiday and I've been so busy because of different charity things so I haven't had any spare time. When I have tried to settle down to do some Welsh it's been hard. I've had the new challenge today but it does seem really daunting!

Simon goes through some vocabulary

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22nd June 2007 - Challenge 2: Calling a dance at the Gŵyl Ifan

Last minute stress

Simon's comments on calling the steps of the dance Ffansi'r Ffarmwr

It started off dreadfully and from there on it went downhill. I forgot the start of it which was the only bit that I really knew - or thought I knew! What can I say? But it was great, everybody was fab and they were gentle and they accepted that we aren't into this, it's not our game. And trying to do something different in a language we're trying to learn is very hard because we're trying to learn so much. If I was a bit fresher of mind I might have been a bit better - next time I won't have jet lag!

Calling the steps

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24th May 2007

After filming with Ray for the second challenge - calling the steps to a Welsh folk dance

Ray stands to greet Simon

Seeing Ray today has been wonderful. Going through what he's been through in losing part of his leg is always going to get you down no matter who you are, but he's such an optimistic chap and he's very positive about the future. He looks incredibly well - he's on top form.

Simon and Ray go through the words

My Welsh is not coming along so well though. In fact it's going very poorly and at nowhere near the pace I wanted. With the 25th anniversary of the Falklands War I've been very busy and it's been really hard to concentrate on the learning. I'm heading out to the Falklands again soon to do some live presenting. And most of the work I do for my charity is in England - when people speak Welsh to me I'm so surprised, I'm just not ready with a response!

Simon gets his instructions from a DVD

It's all dampened my enthusiasm a bit. I just want to be able to learn Welsh. The task I've been given today for The Big Welsh Challenge is difficult but not impossible. It's about mastering words and giving commands. Grav can't help me practise the task as much as he'd like so he's found someone else to help me - a friend of his, Eifion Price. I didn't think he could find someone who's as much fun and has as much charisma as him, but he has! I will get there but I'm not going to take myself too seriously. I'm well prepared to laugh at myself!

More help from Eifion

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March 2007
SIMON'S FIRST THOUGHTS ON THE BIG WELSH CHALLENGE

On his partner, Ray:
Ray is somebody that, as a rugby player, you couldn't help but admire because he gave everything he had to the cause whether it be for Wales, for the Lions or for his club side. He's the same with people and he's the same with the commitment to everything he does. Ray's personality may be a distraction if we let it but Ray takes the Welsh language and his Welshness very seriously and I think to help me learn to speak Welsh will be one of the great achievements for him, so I think he'll keep it fairly strict. We both have a tendency to wander off and elaborate on things that have no relevance at all to what we're doing, but hopefully we'll be able to stay disciplined and focussed.

Simon is given his first challenge as he arrives at Stradey Park

On his first challenge (singing Sosban Fach in front of an audience):

The first challenge is relatively easy, in the sense that I knew the tune and I'd heard some of the lines before. Some of them I thought I knew and had been singing wrong for the last 45 years! I've never sung before in any stadium. Thankfully it was empty. It depends how many drinks I've had as to how much I enjoy singing publicly in front of an audience. I suppose there has to be a certain amount of showman in everybody. But singing is one of those things where you can really let yourself down and embarrass yourself hugely!

Simon reads through the words of Sosban Fach

Simon practises singing from the terraces

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March 2007

Ray has praised Simon's commitment to learning Welsh - and spoken of his pride at the progress he's made so far. The pair became the first of the Big Welsh Challenge Celebrities to appear on Radio Wales's Afternoon Show to update listeners on their progress.

Ray told presenter Alan Thompson he had no hesitation in agreeing to be Simon's mentor - and has no doubts he'll succeed in his challenge. "The way he's taken to it has been tremendous because he wants to do it," he said.

When asked about his motivation for learning, Simon explained, "I've always wanted to speak the language of my country. I feel a bit of a fraud being Welsh and not being able to speak it. Even if all I ever learn is acknowledgements - a simple hello, goodbye, how are you feeling - I'll be far better off than I am now."

Simon has been preparing for his first task - to sing Sosban Fach in front of an audience - by practising at Stradey Park, conducted from the pitch by his mentor Ray. "He was in the stand and he sang with style and panache. I'm so proud he has chosen to do this," Ray told Alan. Ray also told Radio Wales he's so determined Simon should succeed in speaking Welsh by the end of the year that he's considering extreme measures. "I have a cunning plan to drag him to West Wales and put him under siege in Kidwelly Castle for a couple of weeks and he'll come out and the Welsh will be flowing everywhere!"

Ray and Simon in the Radio Wales studio

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