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Eisteddfod boost for town hit by mass job losses

Antonia Matthews
BBC News
BBC Cassius Walker Hunt wears a khaki green jacket with San Portablo, the name of his business, embroidered on it and a green and black Carharrt apron and blue cap. He is pictured in front of his coffee van which has a red dragon painted on the side and the words Draig, commission by Portablo Coffi for the EisteddfodBBC
Cassius Walker Hunt, a former steel worker, set up his own business selling coffee after being made redundant

The Urdd Eisteddfod is bringing a much-needed boost this year to an area that has been hit hard by job losses at the country's biggest steelworks, organisers have said.

Europe's largest youth festival takes place this week in Margam Park near Port Talbot, where the closure of the blast furnaces last year at Tata Steel led to 2,800 redundancies and uncertainty for the local community.

Cassius Walker Hunt, a former steel worker who was made redundant along with many of his friends, said the layoffs were "devastating".

He switched careers to set up his own business selling coffee and said he was "so proud" of the way he had turned his fortunes around, with a location at this year's Eisteddfod.

"A lot of people thought I wouldn't be able to do this," Mr Hunt said.

"I've got a location in the shopping centre and I'm here as well, my first ever festival," he added, speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast at Eisteddfod yr Urdd.

The festival celebrating the Welsh language and Welsh culture is held in a different location every year, allowing it to come to towns which need a positive force to put their energy in, director of the arts for the Urdd Llio Maddocks said.

"It has been a tough time, hasn't it? Port Talbot has been in the headlines for lots of the wrong reasons," she said.

Ruby wears pink-framed glasses and a navy coat over a pink jumper. She has long brown hair and stand in front of a red BBC Cymru gazebo at the festival
Ruby Davies is among the thousands of Welsh learners at the festival this year

"What we're hearing from our volunteers and young people is that they manage to channel their positive energy now and come together to celebrate the fact that they have a unique history, culture, heritage," Ms Maddocks said.

"It gives them that platform to show what this area is all about," she added.

The Eisteddfod will see 37 new English-medium schools from the Neath Port Talbot area participate this year, showing there is appetite to learn Welsh in an area not traditionally considered Welsh-speaking, Ms Maddocks said.

Urdd chief executive Sian Lewis said money should not be a barrier to learning Welsh, and that the organisation was actively reaching out to a new audience of Welsh learners and people in areas of deprivation.

Ruby Davies from Ysgol Gynradd Swiss Valley, Carmarthenshire, could not contain her joy after winning at the Urdd Eisteddfod in 2024

Among the Welsh learners who have attended the festival so far is Ruby Davies from Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, who captured hearts last year when she won the individual recitation Welsh learners category for years 5 and 6 in the Eisteddfod.

On Tuesday, she told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast the past year had been "so busy" and "excellent".

"I got to meet the Prince of Wales in my school and I got to do my poem for him," she said.

She said Prince William had told her she was a "one-man band".

"Quite a lot of people have recognised me throughout the year," Ruby said.

She said she had since learnt the Welsh phrases she did not understand in the viral interview she gave after winning last year.

"I know what they mean now!" she said, adding "llongyfarchiadau", Welsh for congratulations, to all the people who had made it to the final this year.