WCIA are delighted to have partnered with Urdd Gobaith Cymru and Academi Heddwch to support this year’s Youth Message of Peace and Goodwill, in particular with creation of an Education Resources Pack for Schools that is free and available online.
In 2024, Wales’ Peace and Goodwill Message will celebrate the centenary of the remarkable Welsh Women’s Peace Petition of 1923-4, highlighting the need to advocate for peace a hundred years on.
A century ago, on the 19th of February 1924, the Welsh Women’s Peace Petition chest was opened with its 390, 296 signatures in front of 600 US women at the Biltmore Hotel, New York.
The petition was an act of hope for world peace, and its story has inspired the Urdd to encourage a group of young women to come together to create this year’s Peace and Goodwill Message.
The message emphasizes the importance of taking action and persistently advocating for peace. It asserts that atrocities, wars, and violence must be stopped, and that cooperation, passion, and hope are the driving forces that can lead the towards a better future.
The Youth Peace & Goodwill Message originated in 1922 as the very first post-WW1 campaign of the Welsh League of Nations Union, WCIA’s predecessor body. The Peace Message has now been broadcast annually for 102 years, as multiple generations of young Welsh people have shaped their visions for building a better world. Explore the history of the Peace Message.
2024 Peace and Goodwill Message Workshop
To create this year’s message, the Urdd held a workshop in the Cardiff Urdd Center on the 25-26 of January. Staff members, apprentices and volunteers of the Urdd, and students of the ESOL course (learning English as a second language) of Cardiff and Vale Collage all came together for the workshop. All the attendees were women, to reflect the message of the Welsh women’s petition 1923-1924.
Elan Evans and the poet and singer, Casi Wyn, led an engaging workshop where participants delved into discussions about peace and the historical significance of the petition. Over the course of two days, a safe and relaxing atmosphere was created, which led to important conversations shared amongst the young women which shaped the direction of the message.
Special guests were invited to enhance the workshop experience. Mererid Hopwood, Ffion Fielding from WCIA, Zoey Allen, and Mah Kakar delivered powerful talks. Casi Wyn transformed the ideas and important contributions by the young women down on paper to create the 2024 message, and Efa Blosse-Mason will create the animation for the film.
