CALLS are being made for a free Eisteddfod in Caernarfon to help boost Welsh language and culture.

Arfon Assembly Member Siân Gwenllian is calling for a "fence-free, all inclusive" event to be held in the streets of Caernarfon in 2021.

Mrs Gwenllian says holding the Eisteddfod in the town, would give people from further afield, the chance to "immerse themselves in the language and culture."

“Caernarfon Town Council held a public meeting recently, regarding the possibility of inviting the Eisteddfod to Caernarfon in 2021," she said.

The Town Council’s vision is to hold an Eisteddfod similar to the one in Cardiff this year, an open,‘fence-free,’ inclusive Eisteddfod, to be held mainly on the streets without an entry fee.

"The town has already demonstrated that it can hold big events of this nature through the success of the very popular Food Festival. The Town Council is currently working hard on mapping out possible locations.

She added: "I believe that holding an open Eisteddfod in Caernarfon would be beneficial not only for the Welsh language in Gwynedd but would also strengthen the language throughout the country.

"An Eisteddfod would play a role in the government’s Million Welsh Speakers’ strategy by presenting the language as a living and lively language in one of the strongholds.

Caernarfon is the Welsh language’s capital city. With over 80% speaking it, it is the language of the street, the shop, the school and the pub and bringing the Eisteddfod to this unique town would show the rest of Wales that the Welsh language is flourishing both socially and economically."

Arfon MP Hywel Williams MP said: “Bringing a fence-free Eisteddfod to Caernarfon would attract new people to the language, it would create opportunities and new experiences for learners from this area and from other areas of Wales too, especially for those who don’t often get the opportunity to see and hear the language spoken as a perfectly natural living language.

"It’s a unique chance for people to get a taste of the language being spoken as a community language where people live their lives entirely through the medium of Welsh.”