A Welsh-only brand worked wonders for my business - it would have worked for the Senedd, too

Gari Wyn, Ceir Cymru

Finally, the Labour Party in Wales have openly and honestly shown their contempt and lack of respect towards the status of the Welsh language and the branding of our identity for the 21st century.

In refusing to acknowledge and establish once and for all the historical importance of the term ‘Senedd’ in our nation’s history, the majority of Assembly Members have turned down the opportunity to kick start the international re-branding of our country, and for the time being have possibly stifled the dream of a million Welsh speakers by 2050.

On the grounds of ‘inclusiveness’, the AMs have painted a false picture of Welsh society in 2019. Should we now have a ‘Chapel Curig’ sign in the heart of Eryri? Shall we have English versions of the names of our homes and villages in the crusade for ‘inclusiveness’?

Is it lack of knowledge which has driven these AMs to draw their conclusions, or is it perhaps (and hopefully) a lack of confidence?

Ironically 30 years to the week that the assembly voted against using the term ‘Senedd’ as sole title for our political elected institution, I started my dream of establishing a business, which would be run solely through the medium of Welsh under the banner of a Welsh only title.

30 years later our brand of ‘Ceir Cymru’ has sold tens of thousands of vehicles and ploughed millions of pounds back into the local economy of Gwynedd and North Wales. Our thousands of customers include almost 40% of non-Welsh speakers who have respected and admired our use of ‘Cymraeg’ at the forefront of our business.

Our invoices, advertisements and social media are mainly issued in Welsh with hardly any use of the English language. Inclusiveness has worked effectively at Ceir Cymru through our social interaction with our customers.

When this is done tactfully, the use of Welsh only within our business structure works constructively and fosters a positive relationship in all networking aspects of the business. Suffice to say that many of our customers come to ‘Ceir Cymru’ because of the respect our company shows towards our language and culture.

We are now looking to the future and are confident that we can persist with our language policy for the next generation. The use of Welsh has been paramount in creating our business success story. Not once in 30 years have we received a complaint that we are not using ‘Welsh Cars’ as part of our brand name.

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Dream

In turning their back on a great opportunity to further the brand ‘Cymru’ under the direction of a ‘Senedd’, the Welsh Labour Party have closed the doors to new opportunities and enterprise.

Carwyn Jones and his fellow Labour AMs have shown a callous disregard towards those individuals and businesses in Wales who believe that the survival of the language is an integral part of our social and economic future.

If the dream of creating a nation with a million Welsh speakers falls by the wayside, they will be looked upon in the history books as a faction of politicians who cohorted against a positive and lucrative re-branding of a modern Wales - a political party which never fostered a true passion or enthusiasm for the conservation and enhancement of one of the oldest and most colourful cultures in the history of Europe.