 Several witnesses, including his own curate, declared that when Bowles tried to minister the sacraments at Holy Communion, his Welsh was so bad that many communicants either burst out laughing or had to stifle themselves to avoid doing so.Since then Bowles had but seldom attended St Beuno's, and had employed a Welsh-speaking perpetual curate, John Griffith, to officiate in his stead.Griffith testified that he never saw Bowles conduct a service at St Cwyfan's.