Our 2024 Gwyl Wal Goch festival built on the successes of 2022 and 2023. We returned to Wrexham for the full festival (rather than split between Wrexham, Swansea and Cardiff in 2023) and were thrilled to have an even broader and diverse lineup. We had a 50:50 gender balance split of speakers, panellists and performers and had more performers from ethnic minority backgrounds than ever before Proudly internationalist, we showed feature films from Iceland, Chile and Wales. We showed a number of shorts from around the world as well. The popularity of our film slots prompted us to do more standalone film/cinema activities outside the festival canvas: We curated a football film slot at the 2024 Iris Prize, I Love Hooligans (2013, Dir: Jan-Dirk Bouw) and panel discussion about sexuality in football and why queer identity is more accepted in the women’s game than it is in the men’s. After giving award-winning Icelandic film The Home Game its Welsh premiere at Gwyl Wal Goch 2024 we screened it in Cardiff to a near sell-out audience. It has set the wheels in motion for producing our own football film Each of these films are from small and/or independent studios and it is a privilege to support their creativity. By screening an Icelandic film in Wales it built on the theme of the 2023 festival of small countries using football to punch above their weight on the world’s stage. This theme from 2023 was taken forward during the reporting period by us in partnership with Sports Diplomacy Alliance an international consultancy through whom we can promote Wales and Welsh achievement and creativity. Several of the poets who performed at the festival are non- or aspiring professionals: Evrah Rose, Mark Coverdale, Mark Langshaw, Gianni ‘Spoz’ Esposito The 2024 festival explored health and wellbeing in the most depth yet: dementia and brain injuries and the use of heritage to support people suffering from these conditions; the prevalence of serious knee injuries in the women’s game; the adjustment from leaving the professional game and its impact on mental health; the role of alcohol in football. We worked with a local secondary school in Wrexham providing a platform for Year 11 students to share their thoughts on the environmental impact of football and their experiences meeting young people from many countries at the Qatar World Cup. This also involved mentoring the teacher Joshua Hughes. We also had live music from the jazz and hip hop genres as well as more mainstream indie and guitar music. Through providing a platform for the likes of jazz, poetry, dementia, mental health and suicide awareness, and alcohol awareness we are at the forefront in Wales of raising awareness and building solidarities around challenging issues; of bringing people closer to such issues by using football as a ‘safe space’ for them to engage. We continue to support wider engagement across Wales with the planning and development of the Football Museum for Wales and supporting the work of Wal Goch y Menywod to build inclusive fan movements in and around the women’s game. We continue to invest in Wrexham’s foundational economy by recruiting a local support team to help us plan the festival; booking local accommodation; and procuring services (printing, couriers, refreshments, merchandise, etc.) from businesses in Wrexham. We once again commissioned Dispensary Gallery to curate a football themed exhibition: SGOR. As our commitment to helping forge pathways for aspiring creatives, a photographer who debuted his work at SGOR was our official photographer for the 2024 festival. We remain part of Wrexham’s UK City of Culture plans for a future bid after its unsuccessful efforts for 2025. At the 2024 Pontypridd National Eisteddfod we curated a football heritage talk as part of a series of sporting heritage of talks. We commissioned leading fan-led heritage organisation Everton Heritage Society to write the story of Ben ‘Khyber’ Williams, a former Everton captain from Penrhiwceiber in the Cynon valley. We arranged for translation and delivered that it in the Calon building in Ynysyngharad Park. We used income generated from festivals to cover travel and Eisteddfod entrance costs for members of the Everton Heritage Society all of whom are non-Welsh speakers from England. It was the first visit to the Maes for all but one of the attendees.

In the spirit of football supporter solidarity and internationalism we have built on existing partnerships and developed new ones: British Council; Wales International Arts; and Gol Cymru the Wales supporters charity that raises money for disadvantaged children and young people in countries the Wales national team visits. With Fundazioa Real Sociedad in the Basque Country, the Basque Cultural Embassy, and Sports Diplomacy Alliance; Johan Cruyff Institute. These build on those strategic partners we have already engaged such as Wrexham County Borough Council, Ty Pawb, the Football Association of Wales, Wrexham Museums Service, Sporting Heritage CIC. We also began plans in this reporting period to develop a programme of talks and activities for the 2025 National Eisteddfod in Wrexham.

No remuneration was received

No transfer of assets other than for full consideration