Gillian Brownson

A portfolio of stories, audio and creative contributions to Ports, Past and Present by Holyhead writer and performer Gillian Brownson.

The Mermaid's Purse | Pwrs y Fôr-forwyn

Gillian has put a little mistake in this poem! Listen carefully. Can you spot what it is? What word would you use instead? “C’mon, we’ll go down The Mermaid and collect some firewood on the way.” They’re my Grandma’s words. She lived in…

Mary’s Monologue | Monolog Mair

The tragic torpedo attack of RMS Leinster on the 10th October, 1918, is recorded as the biggest loss of life in the Irish Sea. Out of 813 souls, 569 souls lost their lives. Many of the crew were made up of residents from Holyhead, including Captain…

Salt, or Evelyn on the Shore | Halen, neu Evelyn ar y Lan

“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.”―Rudyard Kipling. I love visiting Museums. You’ll always hear Writers and Storytellers say that stories, in whatever form, bind us and that we can only really learn how to…

Mynydd Twr

Cynefin, cynefinoedd habitat, accustomed, conversant, familiar, intimate Hiraeth grief, homesickness, longing, nostalgia, wistfulness -Geiriadur Prifysgol Bangor University Cynefin. Roots. Familiarity. The pull that breeds Hiraeth…

Billy-in-the-Bowl

Billy lived in Holyhead in the nineteenth century. He was a young man affected by paraplegia in a time when society still operated under conventional notions of ‘perfection,’ and of the many important stories presented in the invaluable Holyhead:…
Read more about Gillian's work at: https://portspastpresent.eu/gillian-brownson