I only seem to find information about the 2017 Eisteddfod for volunteering. Have I missed something, does anyone else know where I should be looking to volunteer this year?
These days I was trying to figure what a National Eisteddfod is, cause itās still a bit of a mystery to me.
So I clicked on almost every page of the site, and in the footer (bottom left) of each page there is a link to āSupport Usā (actually two, but seem to end in the same page!).
Then, a link to this: https://eisteddfod.wales/support/volunteer
Not very detailed, but maybe itās a start?
Imagine a cultural festival where everything happens in Welsh. It boosts the local economy, it boosts the Welshness of the local area. One year in the south, the next year in the north. There are dozens and dozens of competitions, the principal three being for free poetry, where the prize is a crown (a new and different one for each year), strict meter poetry, where the prize is a chair (I know!) and a prose medal. But choirs of all sizes and sexes compete. There is a poetry competition on the radio and they have the final there. Craft competions. The Learner of the Year is announced there. People camp or stay in hotels or hostels nearby for the week. And any Welsh society with enough funds pays quite a lot to have a presence there, form unions to womenās groups to charities to book publishers and sellers.
https://eisteddfod.wales/get-involved-0/volunteering
This is the one I find when I look. They rely on volunteers for lots of things. To steward events. To be āHappy to helpā. To work in Maes D.
Oh, thereās so many things that it seems a Festival of Festivals!
Yes! I was astonished when I understood this just a few days ago!
I thought that being chaired (Cadeirio, is that right?) would mean being called on stage to sit on that kind of throne, be announced as winner and being given a medal, or someā¦wellā¦portable award, as it usually happens.
While, no, they get the actual throne - thatās pretty crazy!
In lots of museums you will see a chair awarded to a poet at some local or national eisteddfod where it couldnāt be kept in the family just because of the amount of space they take up. My daughter won the chair for a piece of poetry for her school eisteddfod and got one that was about six inches high!
Finally managed to register. Should be asked for dates at the end of June.