Urdd Gobaith Cymru
Encyclopedia
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
-medium youth movement with over 1,500 branches and over 50,000 members (as of 2006). The Urdd organises activities for its members ranging from small-scale meetings to the Urdd eisteddfod which lasts for a week, is attended by tens of thousands of visitors (over 100,000 in 2005) and is televised on S4C
S4C
S4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fifth oldest British television channel .The channel - initially broadcast on...
.
The Urdd is Wales's largest youth organisation.
The Urdd was founded in 1922 by Sir Ifan ab Owen Edwards
Ifan ab Owen Edwards
Sir Ifan ab Owen Edwards , was a Welsh academic, writer and film-maker, best known as the founder of Urdd Gobaith Cymru, the Welsh League of Youth....
through an appeal in the children's magazine Cymru'r Plant ("the Children's Wales"). The first Urdd local branch was established in Treuddyn
Treuddyn
Treuddyn is a small village and community in Flintshire, Wales, located just off the A5104 road, around 4 miles south-east of Mold and 3 miles north-west of Caergwrle. The community includes the nearby village of Coed Talon, to the east, and Rhydtalog, to the south-west on the Denbighshire border...
in 1922. In 1925 the first "Peace and Goodwill Message" from the youth of Wales to the youth of the world was issued by the Urdd, a custom that continues every year on the 18th May. The logo of the Urdd is a triangle of green
Green
Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...
(symbolising Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
), red
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
(symbolising fellow-man
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
), and white
White
White is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...
(symbolising Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
): faithfulness to these three elements is the basis of the Urdd's motto. A version of this logo with eyes, arms and legs becomes the character Mistar Urdd
Mistar Urdd
dde|200px|thumb|The Urdd logoMistar Urdd is the personification of the triangular red, white and green logo of the Welsh youth movement, Urdd Gobaith Cymru ....
.
There are three age groups within the Urdd: primary (school) members under 11, secondary (school) members between 11 and 16, and Urddaholics between 16 and 25. The Urdd is organised into local groups whose catchment areas are based on those of the Welsh-medium schools
Education in Wales
Education in Wales differs in certain respects from education elsewhere in the United Kingdom. For example, a significant number of students all over Wales are educated either wholly or largely through the medium of Welsh: in 2008/09, 22 per cent of classes in maintained primary schools used Welsh...
of Wales. These groups in turn are organised into larger county-based regions. Competitions organised by the Urdd include sports (including rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
, darts
Darts
Darts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...
, and pool
Billiards
Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
amongst others); and arts, which are generally contested at eisteddfodau. Competitions begin at the local stage. Winners of local competitions go on to regional competitions; winners of these then progress to the national finals, which for non-sports competitions is the Urdd National Eisteddfod. Depending on the intensity the school brings to the matter, school eisteddfodau and Urdd competitions can be a major aspect of being in school in Wales.
The Urdd has several residential centres, two of which began as campsites. The first to be established (in 1932) was in Llangrannog
Llangrannog
Llangrannog is a small, coastal village and seaside resort in Ceredigion, Wales, seven miles south of New Quay. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the population of Llangrannog was then 796 people...
called Gwersyll yr Urdd Llangrannog; another is Glan-llyn by Llyn Tegid called Gwersyll yr Urdd Glan-llyn; another is in the Wales Millennium Centre
Wales Millennium Centre
Wales Millennium Centre is an arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff, Wales. The site covers a total area of . Phase 1 of the building was opened during the weekend of the 26–28 November 2004 and phase 2 opened on 22 January 2009 with an inaugural concert...
in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
called Gwersyll yr Urdd Caerdydd, which includes the Urdd City Sleepover and the last being at Pentre Ifan
Pentre Ifan
Pentre Ifan is the name of an ancient manor in the civil parish of Nevern, in North Pembrokeshire, West Wales. It contains the largest and best preserved neolithic dolmen in Wales.-History:...
called Canolfan yr Pentre Ifan. As well as trips to these centres, the Urdd organises trips abroad for its members.