The Tiger Bay songstress, Shirley Bassey, made two guest appearances on Saturday, October 19, at Clarbeston Road Memorial Hall.
During the Pembrokeshire YFC annual Eisteddfod, one of the most popular competitions was again the Mime to Music where Ms. Bassey was mimicked by the teams from Clynderwen YFC and Llawhaden YFC, while other celebrities included Cerys Matthews, the cast from Tecwyn y Tractor Coch and Pembrokeshire's very own Tecwyn Ifan assisted by a strategically placed broom.
The YFC Eisteddfod is a cultural feast and is unique in its style and of course in its bilingual format, with 13 Pembrokeshire clubs taking part in the 30 different competitions, which included singing, recitation, acting, performing, written work and of course a lot of fun and humour.
A new competition this year was the Story and Sound competition which had the audience in fits of laughter as one member read a story and another member provided the sound effects.
"We had yet again an excellent Eisteddfod, with the competition starting at 1 pm and carrying on until the early hours of Sunday morning," said Andrew Lewis, county chairman. "The standard was again extremely high and I'm sure the members chosen to represent the county at the Wales YFC Eisteddfod in Pontyberem will do the county proud."
The highlight of any Eisteddfod is of course the Chairing Ceremony, which again was conducted by Mrs. Ionwy Thorne, and again this year the chair was awarded for the fifth time to Beth Williams, of Fishguard YFC. Beth had won the chair previously for composing a poem through the medium of Welsh, but this year decided to try an English short story on the theme 'Wizard' and if by magic the chair came her way again.
Following an extremely enjoyable event, the following 15 stage items were chosen to represent Pembrokeshire at the Wales final:
Solo under 16 - Sarah Evans (Fishguard); Solo under 21 - Joy Cornock (Fishguard); Instrumental solo - Eleri Davies (Fishguard); Hymn singing under 26 - Hilary Price (Tiers Cross); Folk song - Lowri Warlow (Llysyfran); Solo under 16 - Catrin Evans (Llysyfran); Ensemble - Fishguard; Unison party - Fishguard; Duet - Sara and Joy (Fishguard); Recitation under 26 - Beth Williams (Fishguard); Humorous presentation - Non Thorne (Tiers Cross); Recitation party - Eglwyswrw; Playlet - Llawhaden; Mime to music - Clynderwen; Choir - Fishguard.
Winners in the home work section were as follows:
Short story - Beth Williams (Fishguard); Poem - Rhiannon Llewellin (Llawhaden); Composition - Joy Cornock (Fishguard); Club project - Fishguard; Ideas for diversification - Hedydd Owen (Eglwyswrw); Portrait of club leader - Stuart Williams (Llysyfran); Greeting card verse - Jenny Boyce (Fishguard); Mobile 'phone text poem - Non Thorne (Tiers Cross); Pencil sketch - Sara Morris (Fishguard); Poe, for SBRI members - Ionwy Thorne (Tiers Cross).
*SBRI - a Social Bunch of Rural Individuals - for those past members who still want to e a piece of the action.
The judges at this year's County Eisteddfod were Mrs. Rhiannon Lewis, Miss Sian Griffiths, Mr. Huw George and Mr. T. Gwynn Jones, who praised the standard of the competitors, and after a keenly fought contest, the overall winners were again Fishguard YFC, who were presented with the Gwyn and Marilyn Lewis Shield, with Llysyfran YFC in second place and Eglwyswrw YFC in third place.