* Dr Rowan Williams meets members of the dance group from Mother Touch Group of Schools in Zimbabwe outside the Pavilion where they had been performing.
* Dr Williams, right, and Eisteddfod chairman Professor Chris Adams are shown some of the images of past festivals from the Eisteddfod’s extensive archives by volunteer Issy Richards.
*Dr Williams meets members of the Canon’s Choir from North London Collegiate School after their performance on the Globe outside stage at the Eisteddfod.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams delivered the Peace Lecture on the second day of Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.
Dr Williams, who is also a former Archbishop of Wales and Bishop of Monmouth, is chair of Academi Heddwch Cymru, Wales’s national peace institute.
With the themes of
peace and reconciliation at its core, Llangollen Eisteddfod works with Academi
Heddwch Cymru in delivering its Peace Lecture and the Young Peacemakers Awards
ceremony, during which young people from across Wales are celebrated for their
contributions to peace.
In his lecture,
delivered from the world-famous Pavilion main stage which the previous evening
had hosted a smash-hit concert by Sir Tom Jones, Dr Williams, who is a strong
ambassador for peace and reconciliation, drew parallels with today’s troubled
world and the international situation at the time of the 1923 Welsh Women’s
Peace Petition.
In 1923, the horrors
of WW1 having galvanised a generation against conflict, the women of Wales
organised an unprecedented campaign for world peace.
A total of 390,296
women signed a memorial petition through the Welsh League of Nations Union
calling for America to join and lead the new League of Nations and 2023 marked
the centenary of the campaign for which Academi Heddwch has coordinated a major project of celebratration.
In his lecture Dr Williams praised the
petition as a shared vision in the face of a shared problem, something which
the modern world would benefit from, he stressed.
Chairman of Llangollen International
Musical Eisteddfod, Professor Chris Adams, said: “It was my proud duty to introduce
Dr Williams as he delivered to us the Peace Lecture from Academi Heddiwch
Cymru, of which he is chair.
“The Eisteddfod is signally honoured in
the Academi’s choice of our festival as the venue for both its Peace Lecture
and also its Young Peacemakers Awards.
“Dr Williams is no stranger to the task
of tackling some of the great challenges of our time and I for one was looking
forward immensely to hearing what he had to say to the Eisteddfod community on
the subject of peace, which is so close to the heart of our festival.”
Before delivering the Peace Lecture, Dr Williams, who was Archbishop of Canterbury for a decade, was taken on guided tour of the Eisteddfod field by Professor Adams where he met a number of international performers and festival volunteers.
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