Success for Ysgol Pen Barras at Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod

Huge congratulations to the Ysgol Pen Barras Choir, Ruthin, who were victorious on Wednesday, 8 July, at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.

They took top honours in the Junior Choir competition, competing against eight choirs from Wales and across the globe.

Following this success, they went on to compete later that evening in the World Youth Choir Competition. The winners of that competition were the ABC Junior Choir from Cardiff.

It was an incredible experience for the choir members. The Ysgol Pen Barras Choir was led by Mrs Sioned Roberts, with Mrs Elin Owen providing the accompaniment.

In addition to this success, the children of Ysgol Pen Barras also presented the Festival’s Message of Peace to the World. The theme of the presentation was “Protecting Minority Languages,” and it was wonderful to see the message receive a tremendous reception from a full audience twice during the day.

The children will perform the message once again on Saturday, 11 July, at 10:30 am. Best of luck to them.

Mrs Helen Williams and Miss Elin Parry (teachers at Ysgol Pen Barras) were responsible for writing this year’s script. Dyfan Phillips, Headteacher of Ysgol Pen Barras, said:

“This has been an unforgettable day for the children, staff, and parents of Ysgol Pen Barras! We had the incredible privilege of presenting the Message of Peace and Goodwill not just once but twice, and then the honour of winning the primary school choral competition.

We had no plans to win or perform again, so there was a fair amount of reorganisation involved in arranging for the children and parents to return to the Eisteddfod site.

Many thanks to everyone who was involved in the arrangements and supported us. It was an amazing experience for our young people, and it is wonderful to be able to take the Welsh language across the world through the medium of the Eisteddfod.”

Councillor Diane King, Lead Member for Education, Children and Families said:

"I would like to congratulate everyone at Ysgol Pen Barras on this fantastic achievement. Winning the Junior Choir competition at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod is a wonderful accomplishment and reflects the hard work, commitment and talent of the pupils, staff and everyone who has supported them.

"I am also incredibly proud that the children had the honour of presenting this year's Message of Peace to the World, championing the importance of protecting minority languages. They represented their school, Ruthin and Denbighshire with great pride, demonstrating the strength of our Welsh language and culture on an international stage. They should all be immensely proud of what they have achieved, and I wish them every success with their performance on Saturday."