91Èȱ¬

The 2024 National Eisteddfod will be held in the south Wales valleys town of Pontypridd, it has been announced.

Ynysangharad Park will provide the focus for most activities, including the Maes, with 150,000 visitors expected over the week next August.

It was already known the cultural festival would be in Rhondda Cynon Taf for the first time since 1956, but council officials had not said where.

It was announced at the 2023 event in Boduan, near Pwllheli, Gwynedd.

"Pontypridd is a fantastic place to host the heart of the Eisteddfod, and the town's excellent transport links mean that the Eisteddfod will be accessible for people from Rhondda Cynon Taf and all across Wales," said council leader Andrew Morgan.

"We will be looking at how to make sustainable transport key to the Eisteddfod, and with the South Wales Metro on the horizon, Pontypridd will have 24 trains an hour through the station from the Valley Lines and Cardiff."

Helen Prosser, who chairs the council's National Eisteddfod Executive Committee, said: "There's a great enthusiasm for the fact that we're returning to the area which hosted the first modern-day Eisteddfod back in 1861 both locally and across Wales."

The first modern National Eisteddfod - a celebration of music, dance and literature - was held in Aberdare in 1861.

It travels around Wales each year, and was last held in Rhondda Cynon Taf in 1956, when it was again in Aberdare.

The announcement of Pontypridd as the host for next year came during a special ceremony on the Maes (Eisteddfod field, or site) on Monday afternoon.

Gwynedd council leader Dyfrig Siencyn - whose county is hosting this year's event - presented the Italian trophy to Mr Morgan.

This is the cup that was given to the National Eisteddfod by former prisoners of war from Italy to recognise the kindness of the people of Wales during their time held in a camp in Henllan, Ceredigion, between 1942 and 1946.