This traditional little folk-song catalogues the troubles of an harassed housewife.

(1)

"Mae bys Mari-Ann wedi brifo, a Dafydd y gwas ddim yn iach."
"Mari-Ann's finger is cut, and David the manservant isn't well."

"Mae'r baban yn y crud yn crio, a'r gath wedi scrappo Sioni bach."
"The baby in the crib is crying, & the cat has scratched little Johnny."

"Sospan fach yn berwi ar y tan, sospan fawr yn berwi ar y llawr, a'r gath ---"
"Little saucepan is boiling on the fire, big saucepan is boiling over the floor, and the cat ---"

(2)

"Mae bys Mari-Ann wedi gwella, a Dafydd y gwas yn ei fedd."
"Mari-Ann's finger is better, & David the manservant is in his grave."

"Mae'r baban yn y crud wedi tyfu, a'r gath wedi huno mewn hedd."
The baby in the cot has grown up, & the cat has gone to peaceful death"

"Dai bach y soldiwr, Dai bach y soldiwr, a'i gwti gryse mas."
"Little Dai the soldier, little Dai the soldier, his short shirt hanging out."

As early as 1737 a Tin-plating works (which lasted 200 years & is now an industrial museum) was established in Kidwelly. By the 1840's nearby Llanelly had become the British centre of this industry - wrought iron from south-east Wales was heated, rolled into thin sheets & dipped into molten tin which had been smelted in Swansea from Cornish ore. Tinplate was then what plastics are today - it was used to make cans, boxes & all sorts of containers, trinkets, toys, and especially for 'tinned victuals' so useful to the Navy which was securing the Empire & to the merchant fleet by which that empire could be made profitable. Later we all needed our baked beans, & the World-War II allied armies marched on tins of 'bully beef'. Only in the last few years has a 'tinnie' of beer come in an aluminium can!

In the 1860's steel replaced wrought iron, and several steelworks were established around Llanelly to supply the tin-works. The growing British urban population needed cheap cooking utensils - up 'till that time there were no real alternatives to expensive cast iron ware (like todays Le Creuset pots & pans). Tinplated steel was the ideal stuff from which to make cheap saucepans! Where better to set up such manufacturing than by the gates of the tinplate works themselves? Tinplate & tinplate products were exported all over the world from Llanelly docks.

So the town became associated with 'sospanau' and the folk-song became a sort of local anthem. The tops of the uprights on the goalposts in Llanelly RFC's Stradey Park (named after the mansion of the Mansel-Lewis's, a tin-works owning family) are capped by cutouts of saucepans. If the ball strikes a saucepan, is it an extra point?

Only one large works is left now; plastic rules, O.K.?

Chris Davies 1999