Dr Rowan Williams meets members of the dance group from Mother Touch Group of Schools in Zimbabwe outside the Pavilion where they were performing.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams delivered the Peace Lecture on the second day of Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.
Dr Williams, who is also a former Archbishop of Wales and Bishop of Monmouth, is chair of Academi Heddwch Cymru, Wales’s national peace institute.
With the themes of peace and reconciliation at its core, Llangollen Eisteddfod works with Academi Heddwch Cymru in delivering its Peace Lecture and the Young Peacemakers Awards ceremony, during which young people from across Wales are celebrated for their contributions to peace.
In his lecture, delivered from the world-famous Pavilion main stage which the previous evening had hosted a smash-hit concert by Sir Tom Jones, Dr Williams, who is a strong ambassador for peace and reconciliation, drew parallels with today’s troubled world and the international situation at the time of the 1923 Welsh Women’s Peace Petition.
In 1923, the horrors of WW1 having galvanised a generation against conflict, the women of Wales organised an unprecedented campaign for world peace.
A total of 390,296 women signed a memorial petition through the Welsh League of Nations Union calling for America to join and lead the new League of Nations and 2023 marked the centenary of the campaign for which Academi Heddwch has coordinated a major project of celebratration.
In his lecture Dr Williams praised the petition as a shared vision in the face of a shared problem, something which the modern world would benefit from, he stressed.
Chairman of Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, Professor Chris Adams, said: “It was my proud duty to introduce Dr Williams as he delivered to us the Peace Lecture from Academi Heddiwch Cymru, of which he is chair.
“The Eisteddfod is signally honoured in the Academi’s choice of our festival as the venue for both its Peace Lecture and also its Young Peacemakers Awards.
“Dr Williams is no stranger to the task of tackling some of the great challenges of our time and I for one was looking forward immensely to hearing what he had to say to the Eisteddfod community on the subject of peace, which is so close to the heart of our festival.”
Before delivering the Peace Lecture, Dr Williams, who was Archbishop of Canterbury for a decade, was taken on guided tour of the Eisteddfod field by Professor Adams where he met a number of international performers and festival volunteers.
