The Party of Wales Arfon Standing up for the people of Arfon

Arfon AM Sian Gwenllian is backing calls for a ‘fence-free’ Eisteddfod to be held in Caernarfon in 2021, meaning that entry to the popular cultural festival would be free of charge.

Said Sian Gwenllian: “Holding the Eisteddfod in Caernarfon would give people from far and wide the opportunity to immerse themselves in the language and culture for a whole week, and enjoy the elements that are on offer at the festival.

“Recently Caernarfon Town Council held a public meeting regarding the possibility of inviting the Eisteddfod to Caernarfon in 2021. The Town Council’s vision is to hold an Eisteddfod similar to the one in Cardiff this year – an open,‘fence-free’ and inclusive eisteddfod, to be held mainly on the streets without an entry fee. The town has already demonstrated that it can hold big events of this nature through the success of the very popular Food Festival. The Town Council is currently working hard on mapping out possible locations and has begun making practical arrangements for a street eisteddfod for 2021.”

Sian Gwenllian added: ‘I believe that holding an open Eisteddfod in Caernarfon would be beneficial not only for the Welsh language in Gwynedd but would also strengthen the language throughout the country. Such an Eisteddfod would play a role in the government’s Million Welsh Speakers’ strategy by presenting the language as a living and lively language in one of the strongholds. Caernarfon is the Welsh language’s capital city. With over 80% speaking it, it is the language of the street, the shop, the school and the pub and bringing the Eisteddfod to this unique town would show the rest of Wales that the Welsh language is flourishing both socially and economically.

Hywel Williams MP added: “Bringing a fence-free Eisteddfod to Caernarfon would attract new people to the language, it would create opportunities and new experiences for learners from this area and from other areas of Wales too, especially for those who don’t often get the opportunity to see and hear the language spoken as a perfectly natural living language. It’s a unique chance for people to get a taste of the language being spoken as a community language where people live their lives entirely through the medium of Welsh.”