Eisteddfod 2023

In 2014, I came to Wales. And I immediately started learning Welsh. But it was 2017 when I for the first time I went to the Eisteddfod. That time I got roped in by my Welsh class; I volunteered in the learners’ tent. Then the Eisteddfod was far away for a while, or not happening at all for reasons of Covid, so now that the event was back in the north, it was only going to be my second ever. And this time I got roped into populating the University tent. All universities traditionally have a tent there. 

There was some confusion about whether we, as a School, were going, and what we would be doing there. But my colleague Mollie got things sorted. And she scheduled me in on the Monday afternoon. The idea was that she was going to be there as well, and my colleague Dei. It sounded like a nice day out! 

That Monday it turned out that it was going to be Dei, my non-Welsh-speaking colleague Tom, and I going. This did mean there was a lot less scope for speaking Welsh. Dei, who had already been to the event as he actually competes at the Eisteddfod with his choirs, gave us a lift. It was cool to see almost the entire route peppered with colourful signs, probably made by private citizens, primary schools, et cetera, welcoming the Eisteddfod, and its visitors, to the area. It looks like it is a big thing for local communities!

As we arrived in the afternoon the big queues had dissolved, and it didn't take as long to park up and get to where are all the action was. 

What we had there, in the University tent, was a big poster about the last ice sheet on the British Isles, and a looping PowerPoint presentation that said a bit more about that. And we had some flyers and such like. But it wasn't very busy.

Me by our poster

You sort of expect the university tent to have a lot of stands with interesting stuff! I don't know; the historians with interesting reconstructions of places, biologists with animal skulls, the biocomposite materials people with interesting materials; I don't know, but stuff to show and reel people in! There was no such thing. There were some background posters, and some people in University shirts with no obvious function. So we didn't attract much people. We were mainly there to talk amongst ourselves!

The first thing that happened wasn't over usually associated with the University at all; it was a talk by Liz Saville Roberts, the MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd (the constituency that contains Boduan, the location of this year’s Eisteddfod). And after that, nothing else happened.

View from the Bangor University tent

We spoke to the odd person walking in, and took turns going around a bit. Dei is an Eisteddfod stalwart who knows everyone; Tom just goes hunting for journalists and camera crews to drag to our beautiful poster, and I just go around having a look. I popped into the Mentrau Iaith (Language Ventures) tent where I saw my friend Dani engaged in interviewing a novelist, and a tent with all sorts of local environmental initiatives where I bumped into the people I knew from the citizens’ assembly in my area.

We also had been stationed right next to a piano; that threatened to disturb things, as the University tent was also open for people to book as a practising space. I had been warned that some of the afternoon, some folk dancing group would practice there. There's no way you can talk to people about the ice age if literally 10 cm away from you someone is playing the piano and people are dancing all around you. But fortunately for us, these dancers never came. But at some point, Tom got bored and started playing some ditties himself. And then it was time to pack up and go home.

We found the car back, but also saw that the queues for leaving the terrain were pretty big by now. That was to be expected! Luckily, shortly after we reached the car, the entrance we had used on the way in got turned into an exit. There was a lot more demand for that at this time! So it only took us 15 minutes to get off the terrain. There was a bit more queueing outside, but fairly soon we were out on the open roads, heading back east. 

I suppose the next Eisteddfod will be far away again. It moves around the country. And having seen how much effort the University actually puts into that, I am not encouraged to sacrifice my time again to go there. But maybe they'll learn from their experiences. We'll see! It will inevitably come back north again. And maybe we can then, as a School, rock up with some more public-friendly material, if that time the university actually lets us…