Free Urdd entry for low-income families is good news all round
LAST week Urdd Gobaith Cymru announced that free entry will be offered to low-income families to the Carmarthenshire Urdd Eisteddfod 2023.
This will be good news for many families in Arfon who may wish to visit the event, one of the largest youth festivals in Europe. We all know of the Urdd as a vibrant and modern organisation, offering many opportunities for children and young people to have fun in Welsh, helping to achieve a million Welsh speakers by 2050.
Over 75,000 children and young people compete at the Area and Regional Urdd Eisteddfod. I saw many of this area’s youngsters with their teachers and families at Pontio last Saturday.
The organisation already offers a £1 Urdd Membership scheme to families or individuals who are eligible for free school meal vouchers, school uniform grant or the Educational Maintenance grant scheme. This year the Urdd have also committed to offer free entry to Area and Regional Eisteddfod for families who receive £1 Urdd Membership.
Thanks to £150,000 financial support by the Welsh Government, this year low-income families will be able to claim free entry to the Urdd Eisteddfod. The funding is an agreement between the Welsh Government and my party, Plaid Cymru through the Co-operation Agreement.
The Urdd Eisteddfod will be held between 29 May – 3 June in Llandovery. The aim to make the event as accessible as possible, offering an ‘Urdd for All’ so every child and young person has the opportunity to compete and gain from Urdd activities.
The Urdd say there are two ways for low-income families to claim free tickets to this year’s Urdd Eisteddfod:
Urdd £1 Membership – an e-mail will be sent to families who receive the Urdd £1 Membership with information of how to claim their ticket. The e-mail will include a unique discount code that can only be used once with their account.
Application form – an application form can be completed on the Urdd’s website to claim lowincome tickets. Before tickets can be claimed, the person or family will need to confirm that they are eligible within the listed criteria. Full information and criteria of who can apply for the low-income tickets will be available on the Urdd website.
This is a crucial development to ensure that as many people as possible can visit and take part in the Urdd Eisteddfod. I am proud to work with Welsh Government to secure the funding to provide this opportunity.