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A cropped section of a script page, with some pencil markings. The text reads: "1st Operator. Today's May 18th isn't it? / 2nd. " Yes Why? / 1st. " Well that's Good Will Day - the Child [cuts off] the day on which the Children of Wale- [cuts off]".

Written by Emma Towner

17 May 2024

In 2022, the centenary of the Peace and Goodwill Message was celebrated, a message sent to young people around the world on behalf of the young people of Wales. The Rev. Gwilym Davies sent the first message out on June 28th 1922, through morse code via the post office. Since then, the message has been sent out every year on (or around) 18th May. Since the 1950s, the Urdd has undertaken the responsibility of announcing this special message.  

The first time it was broadcast on the BBC World Service was in 1924, so 2024 is significant in the history of the Peace and Goodwill message. BBC Radio programme The Children’s Hour would broadcast a special Goodwill Day programme to coincide with the Peace and Goodwill message, and we are lucky to have some of these scripts in our collection of BBC scripts. The oldest we have is ‘A Girdle Around the Earth,’ by Raymond Glendenning, which was broadcast on May 18th 1932. It tells the story of Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconis who was responsible for the first radio broadcast over the open sea. The message was transmitted over the Bristol Channel, from Flat Holm to Lavernock Point, which is not too far from Cardiff. According to the story in the script, the steel plates used in the broadcast left from Pier Head, Cardiff.

Another script we have written by Raymond Glendenning is ‘Milestones’, and was broadcast on May 18th 1933. It tells how the heroes of Wales such as St David, Hywel Dda, Dafydd ap Gwilym, Owain Glyndwr, Samuel Roberts, Gwilym Hiraethog and Tregellis Price were also heroes of peace. It also tells the story of Henry Richard the Apostle of Peace, whose work began in 1848.

A poignant note about the Peace and Goodwill message was that it was broadcast throughout the Second World War. We have a script that was broadcast on May 18th 1940 titled ‘The Enchanted Harp’ by Beryl M. Jones. In this story Eirwen and Gareth clean a dusty old harp, and as they brush against its strings, a Bard appears and begins telling them stories of Madoc Prince of Gwynedd, Taliesin and St David.

You can find historic images relating the Peace and Good will message on the People’s Collection Wales website. They have images of the messages themselves as well as replies from young people all over the world. 
  
With the way the way the world is today, the message of Peace and Goodwill is as important as ever, and you can view this year’s Peace and Goodwill message today on the Urdd’s website.  
  
This year it celebrates the centenary of the Welsh Women’s Peace Petition 1923-24. The Peace Petition was recently catalogued and digitised at the National Library of Wales, and if you like you can be part of the crowdsourcing project that involves transcribing the 390,296 signatures on the petition. Perhaps you might find names of your family members who have signed it? 

 

Category: Article