On Friday, March 7, following weeks of preparation and practicing, Hay-on-Wye CP school came together to celebrate Welsh culture and heritage with a day-long Eisteddfod.

Little Stars pre-school opened the festivities for the day with two Welsh songs.

Each year group sang and recited in their houses and the competition was incredibly strong.

Mrs Menna Wright, who taught at the school for 25 years and finished last summer as the deputy head teacher, returned to school as the guest adjudicator. She faced a tough task judging on-stage competitions as well as all the craft, handwriting and poems composed for the day.

The afternoon session saw house choirs compete against each other singing ‘Yma o Hyd’ by Dafydd Iwan and the chairing ceremony followed, with winning poems from years 3-6 being read out on stage. The victorious Yr. 6 bard this year was Rae Goddard who composed ‘My Heart Belongs to Wales’ under the non-de-plume ‘The Fluffiest Sheep’.

The winning house this year was Dulais with Llynfi and Wye in second and third place respectively.

The Eisteddfod concluded with a rousing rendition of ‘Mae Hen Wlad fy Nhadau’.

Head Teacher Richard Morris said: “Llongyfarchiadau / Congratulations to all pupils for competing so well and for listening to each other perform.

“Many thanks to all the staff for training the pupils and for ensuring the day was an immense success and enjoyed by all. A special ‘diolch’ to Mrs Wright for adjudicating and to Mrs.Sian Rees for arranging a wide range of on and off-stage competitions. Thanks to the school governors who took time out of their busy schedules to come and support the day too.”

“We look forward to parents enjoying the children’s performances of poems and songs from the Eisteddfod in the upcoming class assemblies and ‘Café Clebran’ sessions,” added Mr Morris.