First Bilingual War Cry published in Wales

The First ever Bilingual edition of The Salvation Army’s iconic newspaper, War Cry, has been published as the church and charity marks 150 years’ supporting communities and vulnerable people across Wales.  

This new bilingual edition is a milestone for The Salvation Army. It reads in Welsh front to back and the same content appears in English when flipped over and turned around. Captain Deryk Durrant, Leader of the Wrexham church, was charged with producing a special edition of the magazine to mark the anniversary year.  

Deryk Durrant said:  

“It was decided that something unique was needed to recognise the 150th anniversary throughout 2024. While editions of War Cry in English and in Welsh had been published previously, a bilingual edition had never been attempted. I was inspired to produce the War Cry in Welsh to share the gospel in this wonderful ancient yet very much living language.” 

War Cry first came off the printing presses in 1879 in English. A few all-Welsh editions came out ten years later called Y Gad Lef. Some of these, dating from 1889, have been donated to the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth as part of the 150 years anniversary. For the first time in more than a century, 2018 saw another Welsh version of the War Cry, called Bloedd y Gad.  

The special bilingual edition has been printed by the Welsh publisher Y Lolfa based in Talybont near Aberystwyth. What was needed was a publisher who could print in Welsh and could make sure both versions made sense. Production Manager, Paul Williams, says he and his team enjoyed working on this project: 

“It has been a privilege to be able to ensure that a Bilingual version of War Cry has been distributed for the first time throughout Wales and it has been a pleasure to collaborate with The Salvation Army on this project. Everything went very smoothly. Deryk Durrant worked with our designer and translator and the project moved very swiftly to the final production stage.” 

To collect a copy of the bilingual War Cry in person visit your nearest expression of The Salvation Army by searching here www.salvationarmy.org.uk/map-page or call (020) 7367 4500.