A Welsh Saint, ST Tysilio

Simon Waterfield


Organisation:
Historical Interpretation
Region:
South East
Notice Period:
Emergency (maybe less than one week's notice)
Type:
Professional
Fee:
Paid: £120 plus expenses if further than 50 miles from S E London
Category:
History
Updated:
26th July 2024

Who? Was he martyred? Was he famous? Where is his cathedral? He wasn’t martyred, he isn’t famous, he has no cathedral. He was quietly religious in North Wales in around the year 600. A younger son of a King of Powys. He decides to make a new life for himself away from his father’s court. After being influenced by a hermit monk who he grew up knowing, he moves to Anglesey and sets himself up as a hermit on a small island in the beautiful Menai Straits. There he starts preaching, helping underline Christianity as the religion with the post Roman part pagan population. So why did a junior prince become a hermit? Why were there so many similar hermits in this period? Why was he called a Saint? How did he live? Where did he live? What was his church? What was Christianity like then? What was paganism like then and how rife was it? How influential was he? It’s not likely we will ever find out as there isn’t much of a written history. What can be done is look at the evidence and piece together a story so this man’s legacy will never been forgotten.

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About Simon Waterfield

Simon researches and writes monologues about events and people in history and performs his stories as a monologue in character in the first person. This makes the event come alive for the audience.

“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” – Rudyard Kipling.

“Tell me the facts and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe, But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.” – Native American Proverb.

Using his experiences as re-enactor, actor, and drawing on family history, Simon has developed his monologues to illustrate how great historical events are seen from an ordinary person’s point of view. They are performed in costume of the time, and he brings items of a historical nature, to support the talk. There are a variety of characters ranging from a C7 welsh Saint to a WW2 soldier. Details, including photos and clients comments can be found on the website. www.historicalinterpretation.co.uk I am based in N W Kent but am willing to travel, subject to agreement on expenses. My clients include WIs, U3A, Probus, Active Retirement Associations, Local History clubs, English Heritage, National Trust, museums, Historical events organisers, historic houses, libraries.

"Simon, thank you for your evening with us on Thursday. We thoroughly enjoyed your thoughts and recollections on being a Kilted Tommy during WWI. You make history come alive and the audience feel very much a part of the past. Looking forward to hearing more of your interesting subjects". from Harvard WI

"Thank you so much for entertaining us so royally with your talk on being a pilgrim at the time of the black death. I think it was very well received, and I am grateful to you". Friends of Nonsuch.

I can do all my stories via Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Each will be £50.


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