Sounds like an excellent idea to me… 
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I will be there volunteering the week before so if the Maes Carafan isn’t marked out correctly you’ll know who to blame!
I’ll be helping on Maes D, Sun, 6th Morning and Afternoon, Tuesday, 8th, Afternoon, and Saturday 12th, Afternoon.
Wela i chi yno!
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Draft plan of the Maes - leaked by Cadwyn Cyf. Maes D is by the main entrance. Assuming this isn’t going to change, does anyone see a likely place for a meeting point? I won’t be there until late Tues, otherwise I would knock up some laminated signs that could be gaffer-taped to a fence/post/whatever.
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We will be camping at the official caravan site all week. But I haven’t bought any Maes tickets yet - I presume we’ll have to do that separately like anyone else? So we haven’t decided when we will be where yet.
Thanks for the leaked map, @robbruce! Do you happen to know exactly where the camping site is? I wonder how easy it is to have visitors at the campsite, too?
I’ve been told that the caravan site is in the next field, but I don’t know exactly.
Normally, you’re only allowed one vehicle per pitch on site (and it is fairly strictly monitored, especially when the site is sold out like it is this year), but there will be a visitors car park by the entrance and walk-in visitors are not strictly monitored.
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Thanks! I’m just starting to think practically about what we’ve let ourselves in for!
Did you say that you used solar panels for mobile charging etc, @robbruce? Would you mind explaining how that worked in practice? (Is it practical with just a tent, or do you need a caravan to put them on the roof or something? I presume you have to be present?)
Or how easy is it to get mobiles charged on the Maes?
we have a fountain which works on a tiny solar panel which fits in it (it’s like a bird bath). I don’t know if you can get little portable panels that are usable for charging batteries, but if not, I have a notion it will not be long before you can! Mind, our south facing roof is useless. In winter, no sunrise over the hill! We have to disconnect the fountain and bring it in for the winter!
Excellent idea. I like the idea of a SSIW meeting point sign too if we would be allowed to do that?
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We have portable panels that fold out and attach to a car-type battery using nothing more sophisticated than crocodile clips. We just left them in the sun all day. We could have attached them to the caravan using, say, a bike chain, but the Cymdeithas site was communal enough for us to trust everyone. The battery was the leisure battery that I fitted in our little Eriba caravan. This powers the lights and the water pump and also some USB sockets I fitted for phone charging. An alternative if you’re in a tent is a jump start battery - these include phone charger adapters and lights and so on: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heavy-Duty-68800-mAh-Portable-Car-Emergency-Charger-Jump-Starter-USB-Power-Bank/222331892106 and they will charge several phones many times over.
If you’ve got friends in the ‘powered’ part of the site, I’m sure that they’d be only too happy to put it on charge for you every other day or so.
I’ve also got a small phone charger pack with a solar panel for emergencies. You can pick these up quite cheaply on ebay - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/20000mAh-Waterproof-Solar-Power-Bank-Dual-USB-Charger-LED-Torch-For-iPhones/292119006830 - EDITED TO ADD: Don’t trust the flimsy USB cables that come with cheap chargers. They are mostly useless. Take the one you use at home.
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Would a couple of flags to put on tables in Maes D work?
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There was a regular flock of people with extensions leads and phone chargers on the Cymdeithas campsite last year and they’re including mention of phone charging on their ad for camping so I assume it’ll be thus this year too.
Actually on the Maes is harder - Coleg Cenedlaethol had charging points last year but they was always packed out. One of the science stands had a push bike running a dynamo you could use!
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Thanks v much, @robbruce, for the advice!
I think the SSIW meeting point idea is great. I may be able to put something up if we happen to be the first ones there, presuming we’re allowed.
Ha ha…
Keep me in mind for this in case no one you actually know jumps on it…
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Hello my name is Louise
I will be travelling to Eisteddfod on friday 4th and returning Monday 7th from and back to Cardiff.
I’d like to share the travel … anyone going from Cardiff, or anywhere along the way and wanna lift…
Louise
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I shall be there most days between 6th and 12th August, going home (Northampton) on 13th. I am staying at Cemaes on the North coast and will drive down to the site - I think a meeting point twice a day is an excellent idea, especially for people who have not been to an Eisteddfod before.
Please will any of you who meet up and have fun at the Eisteddfod post on here with pictures, if possible, for those of us who can’t be there? Diolch! 
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I’m going to be working in the Cardiff University tent for most of my visit (Tuesday to Friday) so won’t be able to sneak off to say hello to SSiWers, unfortunately 
But if you know me, do pop into the CU tent to say hello! (Might even be somewhere to charge phones in there … don’t know for sure!)
I’m going to be there on Monday as well, on my own reconnaissance - collecting my certificate from the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol for passing the Tystysgrif Sgiliau Iaith Cymraeg So I might try to catch up with people then.
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I have a question for anyone who understands the way the Gorsedd thinks. At Ceremonies, the Arch.Druid asks, “a oes heddwch?” (is there peace) I believe there was one in 1917, when Hedd Wyn would have received the Chair. Clearly WW1 was in progress. I do not know about 1939-45, but I believe one was held in the year those lads died in flames on the Sir Galahad, during the wars in Korea, in Kenya, oo…all the conflicts since 1945. “a oes heddwch?” Do any, ever, answer “Nac less, does dim heddwch!”
I’ll be there from Saturday through to Friday morning - volunteering most mornings, but competing with the Côr y Dysgwyr Ceredigion on Thursday.
We could have a go at having a meeting point in Maes D - say twice a day, maybe 10.30 and 2.30 - where it’s nothing official, but people could just turn up there and see if there are any other SSiWers about. A couple of people mentioned having something to put on a table to make it obvious they are SSiWers so others can find them. Do you want to post here what you have - perhaps upload a photo so everyone knows what they’re looking for?
If Maes D seems too busy a place though and hard to get together, we’ll have to look for somewhere else more suitable. Hopefully someone will have internet contact and be able to post here to keep everyone informed. You never know on the Maes!
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Just trying to understand the physical layout of an Eisteddfod. Is it only Maes B & Maes D that are lettered? I found this but don’t fully understand it:
https://eisteddfod.wales/maes-0/places-maes/bespoke-festivals-maes