Cymdeithas yr Iaith has presented a party invitation to Terry Davies, Chair of Carmarthenshire County Council and Chris Byrne, Deputy Leader of the Council. The invite is to a party at the Council's unit on the National Eisteddfod field in Llanelli next August. The event, which Cymdeithas expect to attract up to 1000 people, will be designed to celebrate the County Council's new strategy for the future of the Welsh language and Welsh-speaking communities in the county.
Local Cymdeithas organiser Bethan Williams explained "Our members are confident that Terry Davies will take the message back to the Council's working party which is due to report in the Spring will recommend a radical new strategy which will secure the future of the language and our communities. The eyes of Wales are on Carmarthenshire. The last Census figures showed a more dramatic decline here than anywhere in Wales. Our hope and expectation is that this will spur the Council into producing a strategy which will now be a blueprint for the rest of the country.
"We have been critical of the Council in the past and have expressed our concerns in direct action. Indeed 500 people attended our rally outside County Hall in snowbound Carmarthen back in January to demand action. But we are willing and happy to give credit where it is due and, in anticipation, are planning this celebration at the Council unit on the Eisteddfod field. We expect supporters from all
parts of Wales to swell the numbers present next year to close to 1000 people which will make this the largest ever rally on the Eisteddfod field. We are sure that the Council will not wish to disappoint these people nor, more importantly, disappoint people who are struggling for the future of their communities in Carmarthenshire"
Ms Williams added "We realise that the Council needs time to draw up a radical new strategy for the language but it is also an urgent matter. By announcing this initiative 300 days before the rally at the Eisteddfod field, we are making it clear that this is an issue which will not go away. We shall be using the next 300 days by taking regular action to draw attention to the ways in which there is currently discrimination against those who wish to live their lives in Welsh, and attention to the problems facing our Welsh-speaking communities."