Hello playmates. Sorry I have not blogged recently but I have been up to my eyeballs in matters fiscal. I have just been watching a programme on BBC2 about poverty in the 19th century and have realised how badly off I am.

I do not want this to turn into a self-pitying rant but I have made about £1,200 so far this year and yet have had to pay nearly £6,000 in rent. The Welsh Icons website is now costing me money and may have to close.

Tomorrow I will be contacting the Department for Work, Pensions and Whatever with a view to signing on the dole – something I have always tried to avoid.

In the meantime I have tried to sell everything I own of any value on eBay – a soul destroying task. When you get £1 for your favourite movie on DVD you begin to realise the true value of things. Still, the cats need feeding.

What follows is my plea for funding of the Welsh Icons site –

Letter from the Editor of Welsh Icons.

This site began as a bit of a joke (see the About Us page). We originally set about trying to create a Welsh version of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Icons site which lists icons of England. When their site was launched in a blaze of publicity earlier this year had listed 10 icons and were hopping to add another 88.

We thought we could do the same for Wales and this site was created in March 2006. Since then we have added over 250 icons and have cross-referenced them with our encyclopedia of Wales which includes over 150 Towns and Cities. The site has now grown to over 1,000 pages and we know from your feedback how valued a resource this site has become for all those interested in Wales and all things Welsh and we especially value the feedback received from from those of you who have used this site when planning a visit to Wales.

The site has literally become a victim of its own success, getting over 300, 000 hits a month. This amount of usage is outside the terms of our hosting agreement and it is now costing us money to keep the site up and running. Whilst we wish to continue as a not-for-profit site, if funding does not become available soon, we will have to close the site.

We have thought long and hard about how to fund this site and have now decided to allow selected advertising from Welsh based companies on this site. If you would like to make a donation, advertise on this site or even just sponsor a page on this site, please contact us at admin@welshicons.org.uk

Dom S
Editor - Welsh Icons