The Eisteddfod’s weekend-long Daffodil Flower Festival reached a tuneful finale this afternoon (Sunday) with a well-attended Hymns and Pimm’s event in St Collen’s Church.
Presided over by Father Lee Taylor, it featured a broad selection of hymns – accompanied by cups of Pimm’s – with each guest presenter connected with the Eisteddfod telling the story behind why it was their favourite. Each was then sung by the congregation.
Father Lee said hymns were like “cherished heirlooms” because they held the weight of history.
An example, he said, was the famous Welsh hymn Guide Me, O They Great Redeemer, which had been sung so well and strongly by Welsh soldiers in the trenches of World War One that it had also been adopted by their German opponents.
Welcoming people to the event, Eisteddfod board trustee David Hennigan said St Collen’s was very fortunate in its presentation of hymns by having Owen Roberts, who was accompanying the afternoon’s musical offerings, as its resident organist.
Explaining the reason for choosing his own favourite, Eternal Father Strong to Save, which has as its most famous line “For those in Peril on the Sea”, he said it was appropriate for its international element and the fact that a number of the 3,000 people from 32 different countries who would be visiting the 2024 Eisteddfod would be journeying by sea.
Former Eisteddfod chairman Gethin Davies chose Amazing Grace as his favourite because, as he explained, it reminded him of the 1995 festival when it was hauntingly sung by a girls’ choir at an evening concert.
The hymn How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds was selected by Alison Jarvis and Eisteddfod deputy chair John Gambles picked I, the Lord of Sea and Sky.
Long-time Eisteddfod volunteer Bill Kong chose and sang a version of Anfonaf Angel in the original Welsh.
There was another solo performance from his wife Selana, a trust board member, who sang Give of Your Best to the Master in Chinese.
The afternoon came to a close with the singing of The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, is Ended.
All of the weekend’s special events were held to support the Eisteddfod’s own charity and included a concert on Friday evening and the decoration of St Collen’s on a Daffodil theme by the festival’s floral committee.
* Gethin Davies.
* Alison Jarvis.
* Bill Kong.
* Selana Kong.
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