Welsh and Cornish gather in Ruthin, Wales

At a packed rally at Ruthin in North Wales on Saturday 20th September, 2014, representatives of both the Welsh and Cornish Branches of the Celtic League joined members of Balchder Cymru and other politicians and political activists in commemorating Prince Owain Glyndwr's raid on Ruthin during 18th September, 1400 which lit the torch in the campaign for Welsh independence. The various flags and banners of Cymru were flown in addition the the flag of the Celtic League and the Piran of Kernow and stirring music was provided by the Cambria Band.

Speeches calling for Welsh political independence and indeed great freedom for all the Celtic Nations were made by Russell Gwilym Morris, Chair of Balchder Cymru and by others including Stephen Owen Rheoli of Yr Undeb Celtaidd - Cangen Cymru - Wales Branch Celtic League and Mike Chappell, Convener of An Kesunyans Keltek Scoren Gernewek - Cornwall Branch of the Celtic League.

The words of speeches made by Stephen Owen Rheoli and Mike Chappell are below:

Stephen Owen Rheoli:

"P’nawn da. Mae’n bleser enfawr i mi gael siarad efo chi heddiw ar ran y Gynghrair Geltaidd.

It’s a genuine pleasure for me to say a few words on behalf of the Celtic league today.

But it is with a weighted heart I stand before you.

No has beaten Yes. But fear has not beaten hope. And for that, I’m sure we’re all thankful to the people of Scotland.

Today we’re here to celebrate our own path. And celebrate the belief of one man and the bravery shown by those who understood his vision.

Prince Glyndŵr believed in university education for the people of Wales.

He believed in the dignity and pureness of humankind over the greed of oppresive cultures.

He believed that prominent Welsh skills and knowledge were best afforded to teaching the youth of our people.

He believed in a common faith for Wales.

He believed in our Celtic roots – sharing ideas and trust in our Breton, Scottish, Cornish and Irish brothers and sisters.

He believed in a government set up by the people of this land for the people of this land.

And for all this he was branded a rebel and a traitor.
But he has left us with so much.

The fact we are even here today proves that his legacy of belief in our nation is justified, dignified, real and achievable.

Wales now has many universities – one of which sharing its name with Glyndŵr himself.

Welsh knowledge is shared across our nation so that our future is secure in the hands of those to come.

We now see ourselves as part of a Celtic union of tradition and friendship dating back to when Wales traded goods and ideas freely around the emerging European world.

Glyndŵr believed in a Wales for the Welsh – where everyone else was invited and welcome to share in our rich heritage and traditions.

But Glyndŵr’s primary vision of a parliament has never been recognised. And despite the fact we are still here, pursuing this great cause in honour of him and in honour of our children, we remain engulfed and colonised by a nation that has proved across 800 years that it neither comprehends nor respects the dignity and customs of the Welsh people.

We are not second class. We are not backwards. We are not foreigners, and neither will we be when we are an independent nation.

My mother was born and brought up in Cheshire and, although not everyone’s perfect, no one would ever consider her a foreigner.

An independent Wales would keep a welcome in the hillside for all who return or choose to live in our fantastic nation.

An independent Wales would be free to decide what’s best for our diverse needs – and not what sells Wales best as a retirement region and a patch for those Britain doesn’t want.

An independent Wales will have the right to its own water and electricity that is currently stolen and sold back for profit.

An independent Wales will not be a pasture used to feed the machine of a greedy elite – hell-bent on power and money.

An independent Wales will not be funded by another nation on how many people live here, but funded wholly by ourselves for ourselves.

An independent Wales will not lag behind in education and care as it currently does.

An independent Wales will stand firm as a socialist land capable of showing the world that capitalist greed is a poison on this earth.

Glyndŵr believed in an independent Wales. He knew it was our dignity and our destiny. So much so he was prepared to lay down his life for the cause.

Today we need not shed blood as our forefathers did.

Today we need but speak. To converse about our belief in a Wales that was, is and always will be at the cutting edge of change and development.

A country that reaps the benefits of a bilingual populous that shows off its beautiful heritage to a diminishing world that seeks and craves courage, direction and bravery.

Glyndŵr would rather have seen Wales fail as an independent nation than be consistently hammered under the thumb of a foreign monarchy.

Despite blatant positive evidence for an independent Wales, the true value of self-determination for our country is laughed off.

Disregarding population proportions, had the 1,617,989 Yes-voting Scots been Welsh citizens voting on our own independence, we’d have been yesterday toasting a new dawn.

For a day, 50% of the Celtic nations were free. 50% held in their hands the sovereignty of their own nations and destinies.

I have no problem with Westminster giving us new powers. I just have a problem with the word ‘giving.’

And as Celts we will not stop. We will not falter nor pity. We will fight. And continue to fight until dignity is achieved across our lands.

Tacair ar latha....

Daw ein dydd....

Diolch yn fawr."

Mike Chappell:

"Deth da onen hag oll!

Many may view the result of the independence referendum in Scotland as a great loss. We must not see it that way and none will forget the panic caused amongst the self serving and thoroughly disreputable British establishment as they crawled their way to Scotland and offered all but their souls to keep their imperial Union intact.

The people of Scotland have reignited democracy with a turnout of electors on levels never before witnessed. This democracy has come despite all that the establishment could do to repress it.

This was a case of people up democracy and not political party down dictatorship and leaving aside the fact that nothing precludes another referendum in the future, governance in these islands will never again be the same.

The people of Scotland will gain enormous and increased powers over their own affairs the like of which has never before been witnessed on these shores. They will be all but independent.

They will no longer be forced into picking up the crumbs from beneath the table but now sit for the full meal at the table of democracy.

A fire has now been lit and this will spread. There are already calls for greater powers from Wales, from the North of Ireland, from the regions and large cities of England and indeed from my own beloved Cornwall, that ancient Celtic land of the West Welsh, as old as your own. Further afield, the people of Catalunya, of brutalised and battered Brittany, our fellow Celtic Nation, of Corsica, of the Basque country, of Flanders, of Bavaria, of the north of Italy and elsewhere all gain in confidence and a new Europe surely looms. This fire will be a beacon. A shining light to us all.

The people are disillusioned with central governments and in our case with Westminster. Corruption and expense fiddling abounds and these governments no longer serve the people, they actually dictate down to them.

Those amongst us who are younger will again see another referendum in Scotland in their lifetimes and eventual full independence. Many of us hope to see another beacon lit here in Cymru and held aloft by a proud, indigenous people with a heritage which, like my own, predates that of England's and the arrival of the English.

The old ways are changing and we must embrace that change.

Westminster has brought this upon themselves. They have told lies, outright lies, blatant lies as witnessed in the wars conducted based on threats which did not exist, as in the case of the so called Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. A government which adds murder to the long list of crimes it has committed. Well, not in our names!

Governments are there for us, we are not there for them.

Wales can do better for itself. It must look to its great past and its heroes, to the echoes of their words and brave inspiration down the years and then take its coat off to the future. Be proud, be outspoken, be arrogant. This is the only thing their decaying system understands.

Do not ask them, demand what is yours from them and if they fail to listen then they will surely be the authors of their own demise. They will reap the subsequent Celtic whirlwind!

Kembry ha Kernow bys vykken! Cymru am byth!"