24 hours that changed Wales – a learning journey

Aran Jones Author, SaySomethingIn

Back in September, I got a call from a friend of mine. Not just a friend, actually: one of my favourite people in the world.

‘I need a favour,’ he said. ‘Sure, no problem,’ I answered. ‘You don’t know what it is yet,’ he pointed out. ‘I don’t, but the answer’s yes,’ I said firmly.

And that’s how I ended up working with Richard Parks on his new series of short films for S4C called ‘24 Hours that Changed Wales’ – which I think is going to become a particularly important contribution to increasing awareness of Welsh history.

Let me give you some extra context.

Rich has flown the Welsh flag from the furthest corners of our planet. He has skiied more solo, unsupported and unassisted miles in Antarctica than anyone else in history.

He was the first person to climb the highest mountain on each continent and stand on the North and South Pole in the same calendar year. Some of you will know him from rugby – he played for Wales, Pontypridd, Leeds, Perpignan and the Dragons.

Iaith ar Daith

I first worked with Rich when he was asked to take part in ‘Iaith ar Daith’, where he had a couple of intensive days and about ten hours in the SaySomethinginWelsh app to prepare for travelling around Wales using as much Welsh as possible.

It’s fair to say that Rich isn’t fond of making mistakes. That made the SaySomethinginWelsh process particularly painful for him. I remember lecturing him about how important mistakes were, how he should be celebrating them. ‘Not to be blunt, mate,’ he said, with an intense look, ‘but if I made mistakes setting up my supply depots on a route to the South Pole, I wouldn’t come back.’

It was a fair point. It also meant that ‘Iaith ar Daith’ took Rich a long way out of his comfort zone (which is quite an achievement when someone’s usual comfort zones include the North Pole, the South Pole and the top of Everest).

There were times when he was so hard on himself I thought he might actually not film his episode. His final breakthrough – the day when he first found some real confidence – was the Friday before he started filming on the Monday. Yup, right down to the wire.

Belonging

One of the reasons ‘Iaith ar Daith’ was so challenging for Rich was the sheer size of the emotional journey. Being Welsh is enormously important to Rich, and as a person of colour his identity hasn’t always felt easy or straightforward.

He made a BAFTA Cymru nominated documentary for ITV Wales called ‘Can I be Black and Welsh?’ and I remember him telling me that learning Welsh used to feel like just another way to try to belong, to try to be enough.

But if there’s anything Rich loves as much as the Welsh language, it’s taking on enormous challenges.

And that was what he wanted my help with.

He’d been commissioned to do 24 short films on Welsh history, he told me, telling the story of 24 moments that helped forge Wales, and he needed to be able to present them in Welsh.

My face might have given some of my emotions away – it seemed like a huge step. ‘Do you think it’s possible?’ he asked. I wanted to say sure, just delay filming for a year and spend most of that year on an immersion course and you’ll be fine.

‘How long have we got?’ I asked instead.

‘Well, we’ve already started, mate.’

Challenges? What challenges?

There were two main challenges in the wild scramble ahead of us. Rich needed to be able to read Welsh aloud for the voiceover work – I wasn’t too worried about that. But he also needed to be able to learn, understand and remember his pieces to camera.

Learning a language is difficult enough. Remembering complete sentences in your new language, and recording them on camera so that the rest of the nation can see every mistake you make, when you hate making mistakes – that’s a whole other thing.

In the last few months, Rich has quite often looked as though he’d rather be back at the top of Everest, and even though I’m scared witless of heights, once or twice I’ve felt as though I wouldn’t mind joining him.

But his capacity for hard work, ladies and gentlemen, is a sight to behold. I built custom SaySomethingin lessons for each short film, and Rich threw himself into them with absolute determination.

Hours of work in preparation for each film.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget our first day on location. We started at the top of the Bwlch looking down towards Ton Pentre with the wind whistling around our heads, and every word felt like a lead weight – Rich somehow had to get them all spinning around together, at the same time as not falling off the mountain.

Then we went down to the Rhondda Heritage Park and Rich marched up and down the Welsh Coal Mining Experience yard wrestling with ‘chwilio am y diemwnt du’, take after take. I thought it was going to break him, but if you want a good understatement for 2025, try ‘Richard Parks doesn’t break easily.’

Each day from then has felt a little easier, and it’s become clear that there’s something deeper driving Rich on this one.

His 7 year old son means the very world to him, and watching the two of them using the SaySomethinginWelsh app together over breakfast has been a joyful experience for me (Rich has got his work cut out to stay ahead in this game, though).

We’ve had our ups and downs – Bishop William Morgan wouldn’t have approved of some of the language in his old church, I’m certain – but yesterday, we were filming our last piece down in Cardiff Bay, and Rich was doing three or four long, complex sentences in each piece to camera, the result of a remarkable learning journey.

It’s been a privilege watching the entire team at work, as well. Rich has been lucky to have John Geraint as executive producer, the excellent production team at Cynefin Films, the extraordinary camera work from Copa Cymru and the innovative technology from their partner company Copa Gaming.

The results, I believe, are important.

Old stories renewed

We’ve been needing something like this. A visually impressive set of brief but powerful introductions to the most significant moments in the history of Wales – old stories in a new format, and some stories that will be new to many of us.

And crucially, the films are going to be free to access in schools in Wales (in Welsh and English, thanks to a partnership between Cynefin Films, Atebol and Welsh Government).

In addition to the 24 short films, airing daily on S4C clic from Tuesday 4 February, S4C will also be broadcasting 4 x 45 minute programmes weekly in March.

These longer form episodes will share each of the 24 stories with a little extra footage to show some of Rich’s learning journey. That journey, of course, isn’t over yet – Rich and I are going to spend time together each month this year to grow his conversational confidence, and there’ll be a point when I stop needing to use English when I’m talking to him – I can’t wait.

I have no doubt about it – ‘24 Hours that Changed Wales’ is a valuable contribution to our national discourse, and Richard Parks is turning himself into a strong, new and important voice for the Welsh language, which is something we can all celebrate.

The 24 short films that make up ’24 Hours that Changed Wales’ air daily on S4C clic from Tuesday 4 February.

Find out more about SaySomethingIn here.