: St Teilo’s Church

We had a fabulous event at St Fagans yesterday. The weather wasn't quite with us - damp and overcast - but luckily lots of people were, and very many of them bought copies of the book!

I didn't catch the whole service as I was flitting around with boxes of books, but what I saw was very moving, and it felt intimate and totally natural.

Then a whole load more people arrived for the actual launch. People crowded into the Church and the two main speakers, Garry Owen and Eurwyn Wiliam, both did excellent jobs. Eurwyn spoke about the project from its beginnings, and as he's been involved with the project since its beginning 25 years ago it was a great overview. But, as always, humorous too! Then Garry Owen brought a lovely personal note, as he's a local boy who remembers the Church when it was still by the river Loughour at Pontarddulais. He really emphasised just how iconic the Church was  - and still is - to the local community.

Finally everyone came over to Oakdale, the Workmen's Instititute, for refreshments and we were flooded with people queuing up to buy the book. It was like when you first arrive at a car boot sale! It was also great for me to finally meet some of the book's contributors, people I've only emailed up til now. I guess everybody was enjoying themselves as by 5.30pm some people didn't seem to want to leave!

The rest of the work for me is now to make sure all the relevant bookshops and retail outlets know about it. And making sure it's on the relevant websites. And sending out review copies... In a way, producing the book is only half the job: now we've got to sell it!

No blogs for a while now - but mostly because we've been working full tilt on the book (also because I've been off for a week...).

So, it's now at the printers, and there's nothing - well, hardly anything - more we can do now. If all is well the books will be in Cardiff this Friday, and we'll all be at St Fagans launching it on Sunday. If the weather is anywhere as good as it has been this last week or so then it'll be a truly lovely afternoon.

As exciting as it is to look forward to seeing the actual book (no matter how many proofs, dummies etc you've seen - the real thing always looks different!) this bit always makes me a bit nervous too. After it arrives, and I spot the inevitable typo that got away, or something I wish we'd changed when we had the chance, or... and after the launch event, I'll be able to reflect on what a pleasure it was to work on and how lovely everybody was to work with. It's a real privilege to have been able to learn so much about the whole project - one of the very best bits of my job is being able to get involved with such a variety of different projects that might otherwise have passed me by. But with this one in particular, I think, the depth of people's knowledge and skills, and their committment, is inspiring.

Anyway, look out for it, available in all good bookshops - soon!

We're getting really stuck in now. We've had a complete set of pages, which is our chance to move or replace any images, or perhaps move pages around. Once we've done that the layout is set in stone and we start proofreading. While we proofread the English, the designer will work on the Welsh pages - that's why it's important that nothing moves around after we've agreed on the layout!

We had some new external shots of the church done, so that we'd have a wider choice to try out for the cover. I think we're pretty close to deciding on the image. And I think the title is decided too:

Saving St Teilo's: bringing a medieval church to life.

I hope it's a strong title, and I like the fact that we get the name 'St Teilo's' right in there at the beginning!

We're also moving ahead with the launch event. It will be in the spring, March or maybe April. It should be a lovely event, it will be lighter then - and warmer!

I'm working on a book about the fantastic St Teilo's Church at St Fagans. Been really looking forward to this one, it's a lovely story and there's a wealth of fab images - unlike usually, when I have to scrabble around for some decent stuff. I thought we'd be much further on than we are mind, I really expected to be up to my ears in proofs by now. I sort of know why we're further behind than I'd planned, just can't quite explain. Or I could, but it still probably wouldn't make much sense. Plus, designers work in different ways, and this one likes to take a lot of time 'up front' working on the design concept, then when that's agreed we crack on with the proofreading fairly quickly. I suppose I'm more comfortable with spending the bulk of the time at the proofreading stage, especially with a fairly text-heavy book like this one. Still, we always manage to end up with a book on time. I should be designing the marketing plan by now, but I'm still getting the images together and finishing the copy - things like indexes, the glossary, that kind of thing. And I haven't written any of the image captions yet, which I decided would be quite long, narrative style, so that we don't have to cram absolutely everything into the main copy.

Having to work within a financial year is odd too - not at all the way publishing works. I could get really quite anxious about this if I let myself. I just have to concentrate on how good the book's going to look, and having a high-profile launch, with a popular speaker, where everybody buys a copy of the book, which will get great reviews...

In our favour is the fact that the Church is already incredibly popular and has had a lot of good press. The whole re-erection project at St Fagans has built up a swell of good will, and the Church has its own loyal following - a sort of fan-base! All that's keeping me going at the moment, but I know things are going to get pretty intense over the next couple of months.

Ers dechrau gweithio yn Sain Ffagan, mae fy 'niddordeb' mewn materion crefyddol wedi gorfod tyfu'n sylweddol. Ydw, wir, dwi'n ddigon hapus (wrth fy modd, bron) yn mwydro am oriau am yr Eglwys Ganoloesol; llafarganu, cerfluniau, darluniau Almaenig o'r Apocalyps hydnoed - ond mae maes 'Yr Eglwys Heddiw' yn llawer mwy niwlog a chythryblus ei olwg i fi na'r hen, hen hanes. Ces i ddipyn o gyflwyniad i'r pwnc pan yn trafod ail-gysegru'r Eglwys. Roedd yn rhaid ystyried pob math o broblemau dyrys - rhyw hybrid ysbrydol-ymarferol sy'n gorfod ystyried anghenion trigolion Pontarddulais, yr Eglwys yn Nghymru a thros chwe chan mil o ymwelwyr y flwyddyn. Mae'n codi sylw at nyth gacwn o enwadau, defodau, ac, yn naturiol, hanes difodiant adeiladau tebyg, nad oedd lle iddynt yma yn Sain Ffagan.

Roedd hi'n braf, felly, gweld yr erthygl hon (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/default.stm), felly, ar dudalen Saesneg y BBC. Mae'n adlewyrchu cymaint o'r themau yr hoffem ni - ac y bydd raid i ni - fynd i'r afa'l â nhw wedi i'r Eglwys agor yn swyddogol fis Hydref. Beth yw rôl addoldy heddiw - ai creiryn yn unig fydd yr Eglwys wrth iddi agor? Gobeithio y bydd digon ohonoch chi'n ymweld â ni i roi dipyn o fywyd i'r lle - does dim byd tebyg i'r teimlad yna pan fydd hi'n llawn pobl!

Felly, gyda'r mwydro lled-athronyddol o'r ffordd, rhaid troi ngolwg i'r Pasg. Stori'r Atgyfodiad yw prif thema ein murluniau - a bydd yr artist Tracey Williams a minnau'n cynnal gweithgareddau'n peintio a dehongli'r stori dros y pythefnos nesa'. Mae croeso i chi alw i mewn i gymryd rhan - dewch â'ch het artist gyda chi!