As the results of the Assembly elections on Thursday night and into Friday morning are announced, Dyfodol i’r Iaith will be scrutinising and analysing the opportunities for the Welsh language during the next government. They will also be extending an opportunity to hear their conclusions and contribute to the discussion at a Public Meeting to be held in Swansea next Tuesday. The speakers will be the authors of the organisation’s manifesto, Creating a Future for the Welsh Language, Cynog Dafis and Heini Gruffudd. Emyr Lewis, another member of Dyfodol’s Board will be chairing the meeting.

Dyfodol i’r Iaith have for many months been discussing their manifesto with politicians as they have been preparing for the Assembly elections on May 5th.

Heini Gruffudd commented “This is an excellent opportunity to share and discuss our vision and priorities in the light of the election results. We look forward to a lively meeting, and to establishing our programme for the next five years. This is an important time for the Welsh Language, and we’re hoping for a good turnout to contribute to the discussion.”

The meeting will be held at 7 o’clock on Tuesday May 10th at Tŷ Tawe, Swansea, and a warm welcome is extended to all.

S4C has given the organisation Dyfodol i’r Iaith confirmation that open subtitles are not an intention in the future development of the channel.

This was revealed in a meeting between Dyfodol and Ian Jones, S4C’s Chief Executive.

The Chief Executive emphasised that the week of open subtitles at the beginning of March was intended as a campaign to raise awareness of subtitles. This was not an experiment for the future, and the intention is to continue to offer optional subtitles. The situation remains the same with open subtitles for some late-night repeats.

Following a constructive meeting, the organisation is satisfied that the channel will not be considering obligatory English subtitles for the foreseeable future.

Dyfodol also took advantage of the situation to discuss the channel’s promotion of the Welsh language, in addition to the opportunities and challenges offered by new technologies.

Following the meeting, Heini Gruffudd, Dyfodol’s Chair said;

“ We were very grateful of this opportunity to discuss the channel’s work and output with its Chief Executive. Clearly, the channel has a key role to play in promoting the language and our culture. It was also an opportunity to confirm our support for Welsh-language broadcasting, and we will be contributing our comments to the forthcoming review.”