THE Llangollen International Eisteddfod has returned for the 72nd year as people of all stripes and from every continent gathered to celebrate world cultures.

Competitor numbers are up by 10 per cent this year with musicians travelling from as far as Hong Kong, Western Africa. The standard was set by Jools Holland on Monday night when he burst into the Royal Pavilion with a high-energy performance accompanied by his legendary Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. Holland started the night saying how singing together on stage with his band to make one sound reflected the ethos of the festival – sharing cultures in one world.

It is International Children’s Day today and, in a decision that befits the festival’s foundation in 1947 to heal post-war international divisions, the theme will focus on global environmental issues.

Young people have led calls for international action on climate change in recent months and they did so again when more than 180 primary school children from Llangollen and Corwen performed their Save the Earth message on the Pavilion Stage. The schools sang and danced to three bilingual songs about air and ocean pollution, wildfires caused by rising temperatures, and a call for government action to make renewable energy and reduce waste.

The performance received great applause from hundreds of children watching in the audience.

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The Kakatsitsi Master Drummers from Ghana and Gabon performed their rich musical heritage to hundreds of North Wales schoolchildren.

Elise Jackson, Save the Earth co-writer and Eisteddfod community engagement officer, said the project was “thrilling” and that she plans to “engage with many more schoolchildren on similar projects in the future”.

The Save the Earth message was followed by schoolchildren in Wrexham who delivered a spectacular version of the Eisteddfod tradition of the Peace Message. The pupils from Ysgol Min y Ddol, Cefn Mawr and Rhosymedre Community Primary School focused on the thought that ‘If we bring it together, we can find peace’. It was visually portrayed as pupils wore blue or red T-shirts to represent their 'differences', which caused conflict until individuals stepped forward to call for peaceful relationships. They concluded that differences are what can bring people together.

If it is connections that need to be rebuilt, one was after more than half a century when about 70 pupils and staff got the train from Carrog Station in Corwen to Ysgol Dinas Bran in Llangollen just after 8am. The last scheduled school train along the old railway was in 1962.

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The Holloway Children's Choir, founded in Tianjin, China by composer and conductor George Holloway, performed a song in Chinese on the Pavilion Stage.

Continuing the theme of making the new out of the old, later today there will be a workshop titled Magic of Recycling Show with The Conwy Jester, as well as the Interactive Junk Music workshop, which aims to get children to think creatively about what they can do with rubbish rather than throwing it in the bin.

Later on in the day, there will be performances including the traditional Indian classical dance of Kajal Sharma, an expressive, storytelling dance which originated in Hindu temples. They will be followed by the Kakatsitsi Master Drummers from Ghana, one of the African continent’s leading drumming groups. It features the Bwiti people of Gabon, an increasingly endangered traditional African continent religion.

Get updates throughout the day on the Free Press website and full coverage in print on Wednesday.