When Eisteddfod came to local park
THE story of the National Eisteddfod in Aberdare Park more than 60 years ago was told at a recent meeting of the Cynon Valley History Society.
The lecture, given by Steven Graham, was the subject at the recent AGM, and told of Victoria Square being filled by 4,000 Aberdarians singing their hearts out on a Saturday night.
They were not drunk, but “quite sober”, he told the meeting, and this happened each day of the week during the national festival held in the town in August 1956.
He also explained how one of the main events was when Mathonwy Hughes won the chair for his comic ode about a wife whose a romance started in an Odeon cinema who turned from a quietly spoken gentle lady into a “witch”.
In the Full Orchestra Contest, the Kirkcudbright Young Peoples Orchestra beat the Aberdare Orchestral Society, but the Scottish choir lost “in monetary terms” as they made a 16-hour long coach journey to win the £120 prize after spending £350 on the entire trip.
Mr Graham added: “The Eisteddfod was a financial as well as a great cultural and social success.
“Mr Elfed Bowen in his vote of thanks said it had been one of the best Eisteddfodau ever.”
The Cynon Valley History Society meets on the third Thursday of every month except July and August in the vestry of Green Street Methodist Church, Aberdare at 7.15pm.
The next lecture will be on October 19.