Video: Lingo not required to enjoy eisteddfod

Food, drink, music and art from across Powys will be celebrated at the festival, which will be held in Meifod in the first week of August.

The event has a long history rooted in the druidic traditions of Wales and all of the events are conducted in Welsh.

But eisteddfod organiser Elen Elis said she wanted people from across Shropshire and the wider Midlands to come along and enjoy themselves too.

She said some events will be translated into English while others will need no translation.

"It doesn't matter if you speak Welsh or not," she said. "If you go to Spain you want to listen to Spanish music, it doesn't matter if you understand it or not. The eisteddfod is like that.

"Quite a lot of events are musical and there won't need to be translators for those.

"But it's important that people know that everyone's welcome. There will be translators for the ceremonies so that non-Welsh speakers will be able to understand what's going on, and we'll have tours of the maes in both languages.

"The Maes D will be a large tent for Welsh learners and there will be lots of activities there with plenty of people who speak English who will be able to help.

"There will be Welsh taster sessions as well so people can learn the basics in Welsh, and people who can walk you round the Maes and make sure you feel comfortable."

Dr Rhys Davies was elected chairman at an extraordinary general meeting, succeeding Gethin Davies who has stepped down after many years' service.

Planning for next year's event is under way and classical singing sensation Katherine Jenkins has been announced as the headline star of the opening night when she will perform all the arias from the opera, Carmen.

Rhys, 59, a well-known GP in Llangollen, said: "In medical terms I'd say that the eisteddfod is in recovery and the prognosis is excellent. We're very much looking forward to our 70th eisteddfod next year and it's shaping up to being one of the best ever."

Born and bred in Llangollen, Rhys said he has been coming to the festival every year since he was a "babe in arms", and for many years the family home was just on the edge of the eisteddfod field at Dolafon Villas, close to the old Cottage Hospital.

He said: "We were so close to the field at Dolafon that we could just step out of our garden and into the eisteddfod.

"From being a little boy I volunteered at the festival, as a messenger, programme seller, an usher and steward.

"University and my job took me away from the area for some years but I still returned each year for the eisteddfod until I returned to live and work in Llangollen in 1984 – eventually becoming senior partner at the local GP practice.

"I became a member of the grounds committee and eventually its vice-chairman. Recently I was co-opted onto the board of the eisteddfod and earlier this year I became vice-chairman." During this year's event a £70,000 appeal was launched to cover predicted losses due to disappointing ticket sales – and more than £40,000 has rolled in already.

Rhys said: "With our well reported financial problems I know it's not the easiest time to be coming in as chairman, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.

The announcement of Katherine Jenkins as the star of our opening night has caused a huge amount of excitement and tickets are selling like hot cakes.

The festival will be held in two large fields, with a huge pink pavilion taking centre stage.

All of the events take place on the Maes – the festival field – with the main events and competition held in the pavilion, live music taking place on the open air stage and at Maes B – Wales' biggest Welsh language pop and rock festival – and Maes C events offering an eclectic mix of music, poetry and comedy on the performance stage, in the Pabell Lên (literary pavilion) and the theatre onsite.

Music will continue on the performance stage close to the food patio until late into the evening, and a science and technology pavilion offering hands-on fun for younger visitors.

Local artists have been submitting work to be displayed at Y Lle Celf, a new experimental multi-media exhibition, and visitors are expected to flock to the food tent where locally brewed beer and wine will be served up alongside food prepared by Powys chefs using locally-sourced ingredients. Keeping with the local theme will be the eisteddfod choir, made up of nearly 200 amateur singers from all over Montgomeryshire and the Marches, who have been rehearsing for almost nine months ahead of stepping on to the pavilion stage on August 1. The project has seen choirs rehearsing locally every week and coming together for a full rehearsal at regular intervals.

Miss Elis said one of the highlights of the event this year has been seeing the choir come together.

She said: "It's going to be a special evening. I've been looking forward to the concert since we held a day-long singing session in October last year to encourage local people to join the choir.

"The choir is such a social and community-based project, and we hope to develop it further over the next few years."

The choir will be led by one of Wales' leading music directors, Jeff Howard, who has learned Welsh to allow him to lead rehearsals for the festival.

He said: "This has been a great project. There's a real local enthusiasm, and the music has appealed to the members.

"We've chosen a wide range of pieces, many of which are well-known, and we've had fun learning the songs. People are less afraid to learn lighter songs; they may be worried about committing to learning an opera or mass, perhaps, but I think it's fair to say that this approach has worked in Montgomeryshire and the Marches, and we've had a great year bringing everything together."

Miss Elis said the mixture of ceremonial events with folk, opera and popular music, arts and food is a difficult one to explain and is best experienced first-hand.

She said: "Until you come on the field you're not going to get it. You need to experience it. I had some friends from Birmingham come along one year and they left with a completely different view of Wales and its language and culture.

"I just really want to encourage people to come here and see how colourful and beautiful and exciting it is."

The event moves around Wales each year, and was last in Meifod in 2003.

Hundreds of people have already booked tickets for the event, with the on-site caravan pitches fully booked, just one "glamping" pod still available and the campsite filling up fast. Parking will be available near the site, just outside the village of Meifod, nine miles from Welshpool.

• Tickets for the August 1 to 8 eisteddfod are available from the ticketline on 0845 4090 800, Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm. Prices start from £20 for adults and £8 for children, with under fives free. Family tickets and concessions are also available.