RELATIONS between the Welsh arm of the National Union of Teachers and the Welsh-speaking teachers’ union UCAC (please don’t ask us to spell out what it stands for) are generally cordial and occasionally close - uncomfortably so at last week’s Eisteddfod. The two were jointly campaigning against performance-related pay at the festival in Anglesey, with a petition and demonstration.
But NUT Cymru’s general secretary, Gethin Lewis, nearly put it all at risk when he tried to jump the queue on his way out of the festival car park on the first day. With Eisteddfodders fleeing a sudden downpour, he decided the lengthy line of vehicles in front meant too long a wait and tried to manoeuvre himself out to try another route.
Alas, in the suddenly slippery conditions he found his car sliding helplessly into another vehicle in the queue: a vehicle driven by Edwyn Williams, his opposite number in UCAC. Luckily not too much damage was done, the Diary is happy to report, and the matter was smoothed over with the aid of a bottle of Chianti presented by Gethin to Edwyn the next morning. And eventually the sun even came out.
