Hopes for swift return to county

THE 2022 National Eisteddfod was hailed a “huge success” on Saturday night as huge crowds gathered for the final competitions in the pavilion and an outdoor gig on the Maes main stage.

The week long festival at Tregaron went ahead at the third time of asking after the Covid-19 pandemic forced officials to pospone the event in 2020 and again last year.

An online Eisteddfod was held in 2020 and a hybrid and much more low-key Eisteddfod was staged at Aberystwyth last summer.

The Ceredigion Eisteddfod’s executive committee chairman Elin Jones MS said she had been chair “forever”.

But she said the Eisteddfod had been very successful with all the major prizes awarded to worthy recipients and the large crowds who attended had enjoyed the event and given positive feedback.

In the competitions, it was third time lucky for the winning poet of the National Eisteddfod chair competition.

Llyr Gwyn Lewis had twice come close to winning the main prize being placed second in 2017 and third in 2018.

And Ms Jones confirmed that the local fundraising effort had collected a total of £463,671 towards the costs of the festival.

The original target for the 2020 Eisteddfod was £350,000 which was then raised to £400,000.

Ms Jones said the enormous sum had “destroyed” the stereotype that Cardis are careful with their money.

She hoped another 30 years will not pass before the Eisteddfod visits Ceredigion again. It was last staged in the county in 1992 at Aberystwyth.

It had previously been held in Lampeter in 1984 and Cardigan in 1976.

“You can see a pattern here where it visits Ceredigion every eight years so we may see it back again in 2030,” she said.

Her hopes were echoed by Ceredigion Council leader, Cllr Bryan Davies, who said the Maes had been a hive of activity throughout the week.

“But everything we planned has worked. The traffic management plan caused no problems with vehicles getting into and out of the car parks with only minimal delays and there were no hold-ups on the area’s roads.

“The town of Tregaron was busy and traders were generally happy and the weekly mart was able to go ahead as usual right by the Eisteddfod Maes,” he said.

National Eisteddfod chief executive Betsan Moses said it will not be known for about two months if this year’s Eisteddfod has been able to cover its own costs, but discussions would be held with the Welsh Government regarding increasing its annual grant from the public purse.

She said this grant currently pays for around 12% of the costs of hosting the festival, but her hope, she said, was to ensure that it “remains affordable for people who want to visit the field” and “culture should be open to all”.

Ms Moses defended criticism from some of the prices of hiring a stand at the festival, noting “one or two” have said they are dissatisfied, with the “majority very happy”. It follows complaints from some stallholders on the field in Tregaron about high prices and a lack of communication from the organisers of the Eisteddfod.

One business claimed a wooden hut cost £2,000 before adding the costs of wi-fi and electricity supply and some business owners said they will not be returning to the Eisteddfod.

“We are cheaper than other festivals in Wales.

“Of course we have to pay for the costs and if we hire something in we have to pass on the cost but we work with stall holders as the Eisteddfod gets their brand out and it sustains them over the winter.”

She also responded to complaints about the state of toilets on the field, following dissatisfaction at the beginning of the week.

A decision had been made by the organisers to choose the “safer” toilets in terms of reducing the risk of Covid-19 and although there were “problems” during the first weekend in terms of cleaning the toilets, she said that the Eisteddfod had “addressed that”.

Looking forward to next year’s Llyn ac Eifionydd Eisteddfod at Boduan near Pwllheli she said there were some lessons to be learned from this year’s festival.

She added the Eisteddfod had “trialled something different this year, and most of it worked, one of the big things is that people like being on the Maes during the evening and they want a wider range of events during that time but it would be an Eisteddfod “unique to Llyn and Eifionydd”.