It's all over bar the shouting (and we intend to shout)

The great adventure is over - and it only involved walking a few hundred yards down the road every day ! The Keys to the National Eisteddfod of Wales have been handed over to Wrexham and the great pink pavilion, so visible from our house, will very soon disappear - for good. There won't be another National Eisteddfod in Ebbw Vale in my lifetime - there's simply no space. The 185 acres available for the Eisteddfod was part of the site of the former steelworks, and it's all about to be built on.

It was one of the most exciting weeks of my life and the sense of loss now that it's gone is driving us to think in terms of how we can build on the jolt that the great event has given the area. A welcome surge in the number of people joining Welsh language clases is expected, but we are thinking more in terms of visual art. A reunion of the Eisteddfod Visual Arts Committee members has been proposed, and my secret agenda is to try to steer that in the direction of the formation of a permanent group whose aim will be to encourage and even initiate visual arts projects in Blaenau Gwent. Did you visit our Lle Celf? If so, what did you think of it? It certainly generated some debate, as expected!