HAPPY ST. DWYNWEN'S DAY......... DWI'N DY GARU DI (I LOVE YOU).

Unless you are Welsh (or are watching Channel 5's The Wright Stuff) you probably won't know anything about St. Dwynwen - I know I didn't.

The equivalent of St Valentine, St Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers and today (the 25th of January) is her 'day'.

One of Brychan Brycheiniog's (a legendary 5th century king) 24 daughters, and said to be the prettiest, Dwynwen lived during the 5th century.

The story of a love that was never meant to be, having fallen in love with a prince, Dwynen's heart was broken when she found out that alas her father had already arranged for her to marry another, and so .......

Knowing she could not marry the handsome Prince Maelon, Dwynwen begged for God's help. Her prayer being answered when, having fallen asleep, an angel was sent to Dwynwen -  an angel who appeared bearing a potion designed to erase all memory of Maelon and turn him into a block of ice.

Not the end of the story though, God then gave three wishes to the distraught Dwynwen.

Her first wish? That Maelon be thawed.

Her second ...... that God meet all the hopes and dreams of all true lovers.

And her third that she should never marry.

So, all three wishes granted, Dwynwen devoted the rest of her life to God's service, founding a convent on Llanddwyn, Anglesey, where a well named after her became a place of pilgrimage after her death, visitors believing that the sacred fish and eels living there could predict if a relationship would be happy.