THE Monmouthshire Eisteddfod will leave an 'economic and cultural legacy' in the county, the council leader has said ahead of the county welcoming thousands of visitors today.

The National Eisteddfod kicked off last night with an opening concert in which Only Men Aloud, Gwawr Edwards and Rebecca Trehearn performed. Thousands of visitors are expected to descend on Abergavenny throughout the week for the festival which take place in the town's Castle Meadows until Saturday August 6.

Spread across three main sites, the Eisteddfod will celebrate the country's rich heritage of language, music and art.

There will be five Gorsedd ceremonies taking place during the week; the first ceremony which takes place on Monday morning is one of two ceremonies where the Gorsedd honours and welcomes new members. The Gorsedd of the Bards is made up of poets, writers, musicians, artists and other people who have made a distinguished contribution to the Welsh nation, the language, and its culture.

On Monday afternoon, the Crowning Ceremony will be led by the Archdruid and honours one of Wales’ leading poets and on Wednesday, the Prose Medal Ceremony will take place to honour the best prose writer.

An open-air ceremony will take place on Friday morning where new honorary members of the Gorsedd are welcomed and in the afternoon the final ceremony is the chairing of the bard.

Cllr Peter Fox, leader of Monmouthshire council, said: "We are all very excited for the Eisteddfod - a lot of planning, time and hard work has gone into the last 18 months.

"It looks fantastic. The way Castle Meadows gives the whole Eisteddfod a new dynamic as it wraps the Eisteddfod around the town - that is something they have never had before."

He said there is a 'wonderful Monmouthshire presence' with local producers and organisations taking part in the festival. It is estimated the economic effect on the area during the week could be between £6 million to £8 million.

Cllr Fox said: "It will spur people to speak Welsh, to learn Welsh and about the culture.

"Not only are we getting the opportunity to leave a cultural legacy in the community but economic opportunities. It is an economic boost, economic legacy and cultural legacy and I just hope that the Eisteddfod don't wait another 100 years before coming back."

Communities have been raising money for the past 18 months and have raised £200,000 through a mixture of events. The target for community fundraising was £300,000 but Monmouthshire council have already agreed to underwrite any shortfall from the community funding.

Cllr Fox said: "It was a council decision as we recognised it was going to be a hard challenge to get the target expected."