Marie Moulton is well qualified to talk about the Latrobe Valley Eisteddfod as she has been associated with the event for over 30 years. She has held the position of President and Secretary is the convenor for three disciplines (brass, speech and country music), and coordinates and designs advertising for the many sponsors that appear in the programmes. The LV Eisteddfod has twice won the prestigious Community Events Award (1987 and 2004).

This year the Latrobe Valley Eisteddfod Traralgon Inc. celebrates its 50th birthday. It began one day when Kath Teychenne, Rita Wilson and John Posthumus were returning from another Eisteddfod in 1955 and Kath said "we could do that". On 24th January 1956, the inaugural meeting was held at the home of Cedric Stephenson. Present were Cedric Stephenson, Jim Henry, John Posthumus, Eric Watts and Kath Teychenne. I don’t think anyone on the original committee envisaged the Eisteddfod’s longevity.

The first Eisteddfod was an outstanding success and the people wanted more. The concept of an eisteddfod was accepted by all and audience participation was not only greatly appreciated by the committee, it significantly helped the overall financial success of the event. The decision
was made to continue this community cultural event. The aims of the Eisteddfod were set out in 1966 as being: 1) to promote the study and practice of music, ballet, theatrical dancing, and speech and dramatic art; 2) to provide a congenial atmosphere and audience for performers 3) to raise performance standards by competition and constructive adjudication; and 4) to provide relevant students with definite objectives. It was widely accepted in Victoria, drawing entrants from Melbourne, Shepparton, Geelong and Ballarat as well as from the Valley.

The Eisteddfod has continued in much the same vein. The schedule has been through many changes but always with the thought of improving the opportunities for young people to perform and gain confidence in presenting their item to an appreciative audience. It was extremely fortunate in having people of vision on the early committees.

The greatest changes can be seen in the way the committee prepared for the Eisteddfod. For the first years everything needed to be written in long hand. Entries were received and entered in their sectional category in a book. When all entries had been processed, performers were given a number and that was the position they performed on the day. ‘Notice of Appearance’ sheets were hand written and envelopes addressed by hand - a lot of labour, even to process the 500 or so entries received in those early years. Then, in 1974, the Eisteddfod took its first step into the ‘computer age’ by receipting entries electronically for dissecting, timing, randomising, and allocating to their various sections. Once the information was entered, the complete programme was printed out in six minutes. As there were over 1,900 entries received, the workload of our clerical staff was halved. The only problem here was that we needed access to a computer in Melbourne to process the entries. In future years we were able to use the council computer, provided the use was confined to weekends. Eventually an Apple Macintosh was purchased at a cost of $6,000 and entries could be typed directly into the computer.

A photocopier of our own provided much needed savings and reduced the wastage that came of printing schedules and programmes that were not required. However it was a saving of the dubious kind as the old copier would only print single pages, so if we needed, say, 50 programmes of 20 pages these had to be run off individually. Then, on a large table that was set up in the dressing room below the Little Theatre stage, starting at one end we would pick up a sheet from one pile and move onto the next until all 20 pages were collected; the cover was then applied and the booklet stapled. As we needed a lot more than 50, it was a long and arduous job.

The appointment of a paid secretary came about in 1977 but the position returned to honorary after two years when Kath resumed the role, followed by Thelma Griffiths and myself, and remained so until my resignation in 1997. Over the last few years costs have been rising dramatically and big increases in Adjudicators’ fees, accommodation, telephone, postage and hall costs have tipped the scales – for the first time last year we had to dip into our capital. Our estimated budget in 1978 was around $14,000; this year our budget is around $80,000. We rely heavily on the generosity of our sponsors for prize money; without these wonderful people we would not be able to offer the prizes that help our performers to continue their studies.

A lot of business is brought to the Valley for the duration of the Eisteddfod. The Country Music weekend brings people from NSW and from all over Victoria; the Sunday brass band competition can see upwards of 600 participants as well as their family members; dancing performers can spend several days here; while vocal & instrumental performers often need to spend at least one night during the competitions.

The Eisteddfod committee, apart from the secretary (who is part-paid but definitely not part-time), is an all-volunteer membership and a small but dedicated group. It is extremely fortunate in having a small finance subgroup who meet regularly to send out letters to our sponsors and follow up with personal visits. Community volunteers assist during the Eisteddfod by acting as announcers, scribes for the adjudicators, backstage help, tape players for the dancing, door keepers, and generally doing anything that crops up. We also have an auxiliary that runs the kiosk. Like all committees we have a ‘wish list’: that younger, community-minded people will join - it would be such a pity if this wonderful organisation were to simply fade away because no one knew what to do to keep it running.