Karuna Bhavan temple, Lesmahagow, Scotland I've joined a group of pilgrims walking from London to Glasgow for the COP26 climate summit. Yesterday we had a short walk from Douglas to Lesmahagow. We stayed in the Karuna Bhavan temple. The devotees have kindly let us stay here on their little eco-farm, thanks to several members of our group visiting them yesterday to ask them nicely. Previously, we've stayed in churches, community halls, and even a Days Inn at a motorway service station. I first met the pilgrims on the 5th of September in a church in Kilburn, North London, on their first stop (I already knew two of them who were my coursemates Tom and Jelena, which is how I got involved with this). I played a show for them, accompanied by my last-minute band, Kerttu Sorumen (vocals), Michael Ekeghasi (vocals, cajon), Lewis Stagg (accordion) and Liam Lenohan (keys). It was a lovely show. I next met them in Leek, Staffordshire, on September the 26th. My courseamtes and I, lead by Jelena, had arranged an event this weekend in Leek to coincide with the walkers passing through the town. I stayed with them for their rest day on the 27th, and played an evening show for them in the church where we were sleeping (I slept right up front near the altar). On Tuesday the 28th I walked with the pilgrims from Leek to Macclesfield. It was quite rainy. That evening I went to stay on Mathew & Kim's alpaca farm, and then I went back to my new houseshare in Machynlleth (I moved to Mach, I'll write about that in another post). I rejoined the walk at Gretna on the 16th of October. I took the train up from London. I'm walking with them to Glasgow. 16/10/21 - Meeting the walkers in Gretna |
1. (a capella) I have hungry arms, My heart is bleeding, My mind is weakened, My body needing, I want to see an end, To all this grieving, And hold you all again ~ Within my hungry arms. 2. D Oh my days & nights~ A7 D Have been so lonely, G A lifetime lingering, F#m Thinking, "if only", G But there's a sea to cross, Bm To sail, so slowly, D 'till I can hold you all, G A7 D Within my hungry arms. 3. D A7 D Páín punctuates my daily dealings, G As I watch and wait, F#m And keep my feelings ~ G All boxed and bottled up, Bm My thoughts are reeling, D Until I hold you all, G A7 D Within my hungry arms. | 4. E When this nightmare ends, B7 E That's so elastic, A And the daytime dawns, G#m With light, fantastic, A I won't feel so forlorn, C#m So damned, so drastic, E Once I've held you all ~ A B7 E Within my hungry arms. 5. E I have hungry arms, B7 E My heart is bleeding, A My mind is weakened, G#m My body needing, A I want to see an end, C#m To all the grieving, E And hold you all again, A B7 E Within my hungry arms. |
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Last year's NYE concert, streaming worldwide
Dyma record o cyngor chwarais i blwyddyn dwythaf yn Gent, Gwlad Belg hefo band o tua 20 ffrind, rhai nath ymyno ar y funed olaf, a rhai eriall o'r gynilleidfa. Dwy'n nghobaithio eich fod yn mwynhau ein jam fawr! Roedd o'n lot o hwyl. Fi sydd wedi cyfansoddi rhan fwyaf o'r canneuon (heb law am yr un traddodiadol), gyda help ar ambell i gan gan Sion, Jilly a Maya. Diolch i'r band gwych am ei holl solos nuts ac i'r gynilleidfa am eich egni. Dyma'r fywyd rydan ni esio i pawb! Agor y ffinniau rwan. #opentheborders |
Wnaethom ni ffilmio a recordio'r gan wreiddiol hon mewn hen stabl yr ardd, adref ym Metws-y-Coed. Gynhyrchwyd y fideo gan ein chwaer bach, Ciara.
Nadolig llawen a blwyddyn newydd dda!

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A tragi-comic, folk-pop ode to Belgium from the year 2020
as requested by Worldwide Welshman fan, Linde P |
But before I left, we transformed the Robinialand living room into a socially-distanced home studio and recorded this song:
The song was written on a Sunday in Brussels. It was the 15th March, 2020 and Belgium had just gone into lockdown. I was due to take a bus back to London that evening, and Hannelore would fly back to Estonia the following morning. But we didn't really want to leave, and we didn't know when we would all see each other again. She especially was making a fuss about this, and I, sat at the piano, started making up a mock-tragic song about it. Judging from the voice notes on my phone, this must have been at about 11.40am. A few hours later, we'd finished the song and filmed a little video.
I returned to Belgium in September to perform at BOM festival in Bij De Vieze Gasten, Ghent, where we gave this song its first (and so far, last) Belgian public appearance.
I ended up staying in Ghent for a month with my bandmates in their shared house, delaying the inevitable two weeks of mandatory self-isolation which I would undergo on my return to the UK. A friend suggested I record See You After Quarantine which she remembered from our performance at the festival. I'm very glad she made that suggestion! This one goes out to her.
I didn't manage to finish the video it in time for the gig, but the audio was ready, so I used that.
Scroll down the blog for musical adventures!
You can also check out the menu on the top right to see links to my bandcamp, selected videos & music, art portfolio, bio and contact page. Its a bit chaotic, but its a work in progress. Enjoy!
Author
Liam Rickard is a musician & illustrator from Dyffryn Conwy, North Wales performing multilingual, global-alt-pop, party music and comedy under the name Worldwide Welshman. He is one half of the Welsh folk-rock duo, Lo-Fi Jones.
He's currently studying an MSc in Green Building at the Centre For Alternative Technology.
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