[SWLUG] Eisteddfod

[Gareth Bowker]

On Fri, 2004-06-11 at 19:52, justin at discordia.org.uk wrote:

> A curious choice of venue, as being born and raised in Newport, and
> despite being taught a (very) little amount of it in school, i always
> had the impression that welsh as a first (or any) language was pretty
> much non existant in that area.

Newport has a Welsh-language primary school, Ysgol Gymraeg Casnewydd.
Children from there then go to Gwynllyw, up in Trevethin (Torfaen) for
their secondary education. Last time I spoke to someone at Gwynllyw they
had well over 800 pupils, which isn't bad given that there was *no*
secondary education in Gwent before 1988 - you either had to go to Glan
Taf in Cardiff or to Ysgol y Cymer in Rhondda.

While I agree Welsh isn't exactly prevalent round there, Cardiff has
shown a real resurgence of Welsh and the same thing seems to be
happening in Gwent - I've heard it spoken more and more in recent times.
Hopefully the Eisteddfod will bring more attention to the Welsh language
in the area - it might also give a boost to Wales' newest city too :)

G