The only two-time chairman of the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod has stepped, ending a 64-year association with the great event.<\/p>\n
Gethin Davies began as a 12-year-old programme seller in 1951 and has also been an usher and the festival secretary as well as chairman from 1992 to 2003 and from 2013 to this year.<\/p>\n
His wife, Eulanwy, has also served as Musical Director of the Eisteddfod which began back in 1947 and which will celebrate its 70th<\/sup> anniversary in 2017.<\/p>\n Retired solicitor Gethin, 76, who overcame cancer last year, said: \u201cMy three-year term ends this year and I\u2019m not seeking re-election and I\u2019m moving out of the way after 45 years on the board.\u201d<\/p>\n He was born in Porthcawl, in South Wales, and moved to Llangollen when his father became head of the secondary modern school in the town and he said: \u201cI heard kids talking about selling programmes for a commission.<\/p>\n \u201cI got tuppence for each one I sold at two shillings each and I ended up with 25 shillings – \u00a31.25 in today\u2019s money \u2013 but it was a special bumper edition of the programme because it was The Festival of Britain that year and in 1952 it went back to a smaller size for one shilling and the commission was just a penny and I didn\u2019t make so much.\u201d<\/p>\n He moved onto the job of usher, not so lucrative but with the attraction of being able to attend all the concerts and he recalls 1953 with the Obernkirchen girls singing The Happy Wanderer.<\/p>\n In later years he saw artists like the great violinist Yehudi Menuhin, the thunderous Bulgarian bass Boris Christov and an artist billed as \u2018A Mexican Tenor\u2019 who turned out to be a young Placido Domingo.<\/p>\n Gethin, who studied law at Aberystwyth, where he met Eulanwy, later became a founder partner in successful solicitors firm GHP Legal in Wrexham, major sponsors of the Eisteddfod.<\/p>\n Until 1992 when the Queen opened the new Royal International Pavilion, the event was held in a huge marquee but the Eisteddfod, set up originally as a means of promoting peace and harmony internationally also displayed a shrewd business sense.<\/p>\n Gethin said: \u201cIn 1958 they bought the fields where the event is held today for \u00a312,000 which was a large sum but it\u2019s turned out to be a very good piece of business.<\/p>\n \u201cThey leased part of it to the old Denbighshire County Council with the proviso it be available for the Eisteddfod and they later worked out a deal with Clwyd County Council thanks to the Chief Executive of the Council, Mervyn Phillips, which has also proved crucial.<\/p>\n \u201cWe raised \u00a3500,000 and the Council applied for and got \u00a33 million of European money which paid for the Royal International Pavilion.<\/p>\n \u201cThe construction was running rather slowly but when the builders found out that the Queen was coming to open it they really got a move on.<\/p>\n \u201cThe week before the Fron Choir tested the acoustics and they were awful.<\/p>\n \u201cThe compere, Robin Jones, actually had a gun on stage and, after making a joke of it with the audience, he fired it to test the reverberation time and they put various baffles in and the sound quality has become excellent over the years.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful auditorium for competitions and concerts and it still retains that feeling that you\u2019re virtually in a canvas marquee which is unique to the Eisteddfod.\u201d<\/p>\n Gethin\u2019s first term as Chairman began in 1992 and he was in post for Luicano Pavarotti\u2019s return in 1995 and through to 2003 and then he stepped up again in 2013 but his involvement hasn\u2019t been confined to the backrooms as one of the army of volunteers.<\/p>\n He has competed as well, first as a member of the renowned Fron Choir for 13 years, finishing second twice but winning many other events including the National Eisteddfod.<\/p>\n More recently he has sung with mixed choir C\u00f4r Rhuthun, also National winners but never first at Llangollen and he said: \u201cIt would be great to win here, I\u2019d dearly love that. I\u2019d swap all the other wins for one at Llangollen.<\/p>\n \u201cThe competition for the Choir of the World is the highlight of the week for me and I really enjoy it. I wouldn\u2019t miss it for the world.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the Eisteddfod remains unique, it\u2019s the grand-daddy of them all, all those events like Glastonbury \u2013 and it\u2019s down to the volunteers because our permanent staff is only small.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is that army who give their time and often hardly see anything of the event itself, they make it what it is and make it so special.\u201d<\/p>\n In retirement Gethin plans to take a break from that behind the scenes labour but he will still be a fixture at the event \u2013 he can see the field from the picture window at his home on the hill above.\u201d<\/p>\n