IF I SAID that the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru opens in Ceredigion this weekend, you might well respond with a blank stare.

Unless, that is, you’re Welsh. In which case, you’d know I was talking about the National Eisteddfod of Wales, the great annual celebration of culture, poetry and singing competitions, gigs, plays and exhibitions.

With its friendly market towns, castles, beaches and radical traditions, the county of Ceredigion provides a near perfect backdrop to the festival.

Had my sister, a Morning Star supporter and socialist, won the seat for Labour in 2019, I would have said it was the perfect backdrop.

In rural France, it is considered an honour for a town to host a stage of the Tour de France.

In rural Wales, it’s considered an honour to host the Eisteddfod, and this year it’s the turn of Tregaron, a charming market town with a population of 1,200.

Descending on the town will be tens of thousands of festivalgoers, hundreds of competitors and stallholders, and a contingent from the newly formed all-Wales Morning Star readers and supporters’ group.

As part of the Reach for the Star campaign for 1,000 new readers, the group will be distributing copies of the paper, together with a special four-page edition in Welsh.

David Nicholson, who helped set up the group, told me about their plans: “One of our main aims is to help fund the appointment of a Wales-based reporter.

“With a socialist first minister and a raft of progressive legislation, it is vital our paper reflects the trade union and labour movement in Wales in its news reports, reviews and feature articles.

“Our focus will be on increasing daily sales and donations and helping to set up town and city-based groups across Wales.”

Regular readers will know that I’m normally to be found banging on about the paper’s survival like a prophet of doom (and it really is a daily battle to keep the paper afloat), so it makes a pleasant change to report on our plans for growth.

With the cost-of-living crisis intensifying and strike action spreading, we need more Morning Star readers in every corner of Wales, Scotland, and England.

1,000 new readers for the print or online editions means we can hire more reporters, commission more features, produce more videos and be a louder and more effective voice for the working class.

Calvin Tucker is the Morning Star’s campaigns manager.

If you would like to get involved in the Reach for the Star campaign, please get in touch with your nearest readers and supporters’ group listed in today’s paper or contact me at campaigns@peoples-press.com. 

The Wales group can be contacted on davidedwin.nicholson@gmail.com.

You can subscribe to the Morning Star at: www.morningstaronline.co.uk/subscribe.