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One of the poems pupils from a local school performed at this year’s Eisteddfod yr Urdd held a particular significance for the Port Talbot audience. Y Ffatri’n Cau, or The Factory Closing, tells the story of the despair engulfing a man who has lost his job, and finds the future is now “yn rhoi clep yn ei wyneb” – a slap in his face.
The south Wales town, one of the most deprived in the UK, is still grappling with the closure of the blast furnaces at Tata Steel, which shut down in September after more than 100 years, costing nearly 3,000 jobs. The sense of injustice was inflamed by the UK government’s decision last month to step in to save the Scunthorpe steelworks in Lincolnshire from a similar fate.
“It’s been a rough time for the community lately,” said Mark Morgan, a Welsh language teacher at the English-medium Ysgol Bae Baglan, speaking at the Eisteddfod site at Margam country park on Tuesday. “The steelworks closing came right after Covid, back to back blows.
“That is one of the reasons everyone is delighted the Urdd Eisteddfod came to Port Talbot this year. It’s been very fulfilling for the children and everyone else, all the volunteers, to channel their energy into something positive and imaginative that encourages them to be proud of who they are and where they come from.”
Eisteddfod yr Urdd is an annual celebration of Welsh language and culture for young people that travels to different locations each year over the spring half-term holiday. It features poetry, singing, dance, instrumental and composition competitions.
This year’s theme is Dur a Môr, or steel and sea, in a nod to the area’s industrial history; the chairing of the bard, the most important event in the week-long event, will feature a new ceremonial chair made from the last virgin steel the town produced.
“People think of Port Talbot as just industry and the M4, but there’s lots more Welsh history here. Aberafan was the home of the Lords of Afan,” said Llio Maddocks, the Urdd’s artistic director, referring to the medieval Welsh princes.
Urdd i Bawb, or Urdd for All, an initiative launched to celebrate the organisation’s centenary in 2022, has made entry free for low-income families, cut membership fees from £10 to £1, and involves free shuttle buses from Port Talbot station.
It appears to have made a huge impact. Most of the Port Talbot community do not speak Welsh as a first language, but according to Urdd Gobaith Cymru, this year there are more Welsh learners competing than ever before, including 36 English-medium schools taking part for the first time. There was also a record number of entrants overall – 120,000 – before competitors for the final week were whittled down to 15,000.
“One of my favourite parts of the week is seeing parents in the audience just thrilled and proud of their kids speaking Welsh even if they don’t,” said Maddocks. “We are here to show that Welsh is a living, breathing language and provide a space for that to thrive outside the classroom.”
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Tuesday brought relentless wind and rain to Margam park, but thousands of families in waterproofs and wellington boots still braved the elements to watch the performances and mill around in the festival atmosphere.
Carys Mugford, a teacher at St David’s Catholic primary school near Swansea, who learned to speak Welsh fluently during a sabbatical programme in 2019, said the opportunity to bring a group of six- to 11-year-olds to perform in one of the dancing competitions and get more familiar with the language was welcome.
“About 60% of the kids at our school speak English as a second language, and I’ve found they’re often more confident and enthusiastic about Welsh because they’re already familiar with having to get to grips with another language,” she said.
Harri, 12, a year seven pupil at Ysgol Bae Baglan who performed several poems and made a presentation to a Welsh government delegation with three classmates, said he was glad the Eisteddfod had come to Port Talbot this year.
“It’s great to have visitors coming to Port Talbot,” he said. “It is really exciting to compete and show what we can do.”
