Flintshire County Council is thrilled to welcome Gŵyl Gobaith once again to Flintshire at Northop Campus, Deeside College and Glyndŵr University on 24th to 27th August bank holiday weekend.

The festival this year has a strong local and community content with young musicians from Flintshire's County Youth Orchestra performing as part of the North Wales Youth Orchestra on the Friday evening, supporting Hayley Westenra and Rhys Meirion.

Gŵyl Gobaith has embraced Flintshire County Council's ethos of offering people opportunities to excel by giving local, up and coming acts the chance to perform on a large open air festival stage alongside some of Wales' best known singers and bands, including Bryn Fôn, Masters in France and Elin Fflur.

Local bands being given this amazing opportunity during the Saturday afternoon and evening event are: The Peace Creatures, a six piece band from Deeside who create melodious, percussive, memorable mash; The Suns, an Indie Band who write about their home town of Chester; a six piece Indie/Rock band, The Scene, from Wrexham; North Wales singer-songwriter Cal Roberts, from Bagillt, with a four piece band; and I Am Austin, from Connah's Quay, another North Wales group which has won great acclaim from Edith Bowman and Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 1.

Rhys Meirion, one of the Three Welsh Tenors and Gŵyl Gobaith organiser said: "This is such an exciting line up with a very strong mix of national and local talent and a variety of music genres, so it promises to be a wonderful event appealing to a wide target audience of all ages, but, importantly, to a younger market that we haven't directly targeted before. I am delighted this event will showcase bands from across North Wales, which, to me, is so important as we need to be encouraging fresh talent and give them an arena to be heard in and importantly supported."

Councillor Aaron Shotton, leader of Flintshire County Council, said: "I am delighted to be able to support Flintshire's very own open air festival. This will be a fantastic event and a great opportunity for local people to enjoy some local home-grown bands and musicians. I know that locally The Peace Creatures, The Suns, The Scene, Cal Roberts and I Am Austin all have a large fan base, which I am certain will all add to it being a memorable event."

Gŵyl Gobaith/Festival of Hope is a musical extravaganza offering four nights of spectacular internationally renowned music set in the beautiful surroundings of Deeside College/ Glyndŵr University. The Festival opens on Friday 24th August, with New Zealand soprano Hayley Westenra. Sunday night sees the "Three Phantoms" take to the stage and on Monday 27th, pop phenomenon Steps will perform.

Gates for the Live Aid style event on Saturday 25th August will open at 1pm and tickets are only £15 each, which can be purchased through the Box Office at Clwyd Theatr Cymru by calling 0845 330 3565 or visiting www.clwyd-theatr-cymru.co.uk   

For a full list of ticket prices and any further information, please visit www.gwylgobaith.org / www.festivalofhope.org.uk

Gŵyl Gobaith is sponsored by Airbus in the UK and Gardners Chartered Accountants, and is organised in partnership with Avanti Media, Flintshire County Council, Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Deeside College and Glyndŵr University.