LLANGOLLEN International Musical Eisteddfod is “Wales at its best”.
That was the strong message from Secretary of State for Wales David Jones MP when he visited the festival and accepted the honour of becoming its Day President.
He also described Llangollen as a “great force for international understanding”.
Addressing the day’s audience from the main pavilion stage, Mr Jones, the Conservative MP for Clwyd West, said: “This is very much a homecoming for me as I was brought up in Rhosllanerchrugog and went to school in Ruabon the Eisteddfod has always been part of my life.
“I first came here with my grandmother when I was a very small boy.
“That was a time when people didn’t travel and to come to Llangollen and see so many people from so many different countries and cultures in all their amazing costumes was a huge thing.
“I also recall that a lot of people in Rhos used to put up a lot of people visiting the Eisteddfod for the week.
“The Eisteddfod was the brainchild of Harold Tudor who was a former member of the British Council and he understood that Europe and world while recovering from the Second World War needed something to promote understanding between nations, and that was the international language of music.
“The Eisteddfod has created a huge impact on the world and done more than most to increase and extend world peace.
“This year we see 28 nations from across the world who have come together to compete in harmony and deliver harmony.”
Mr Jones said the festival’s role in promoting peace had been clearly demonstrated this year by the joint performance earlier in the week of competitors from the Ukraine and Russia.
Casting aside their political differences back home, the Barvinochok folk dance group from Kiev in the Ukraine shared the stage with the City Children’s Choir from the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk and gave each other warm applause and greetings.
Mr Jones said: “This was a very significant event and shows what an important role the Eisteddod plays in fostering international understanding.”
The Secretary of State spoke of the importance of Wales hosting the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) summit at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport this September.
He said: “NATO and the Llangollen Eisteddfod were founded at around the same time just after the end of the Second World War and both have been working to ensure the world doesn’t have another conflagration of the kind it did in the 1940s.”
He also underlined the importance to Wales of the current centenary of Dylan Thomas.
He said: “Thomas was arguably the greatest ever Welsh poet who wrote in English and his work has resounded across the world.
“I was in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia a couple of months ago visiting the new University of Wales and watched a marvellous musical interpretation of his poem, Fern Hill.”
Mr Jones added: “It’s a huge honour to be chosen as Day President. Llangollen Eisteddfod is Wales at its best and can be proud of its reputation for co-operation it has across the world.
“It is a great force for international understanding and ultimately, one must hope, for world peace.”
Mr Jones has been Secretary of State for Wales in the Coalition Government since September 2012.
Although he was born in London, he has strong connections with North Wales.
He attended Ruabon Grammar School until the age of 18, and went on to study law at University College London and the College of Law in Chester.
After completing his studies, he moved to Ruthin to train as a solicitor.
Having practised law for a few years, Mr Jones set out to found an independent legal practice which still has an office in Llandudno.
After briefly serving as a Member of the Welsh Assembly, he won the Clwyd West parliamentary seat in 2005.
He has since served as a member of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee. In 2006 he was appointed Shadow Minister for Wales and six years later moved to his present government job which gives him a seat on the Cabinet.
He lives with his family in Rhos-on-Sea.
