A DOLGELLAU town councillor is doing his bit to boost the Welsh national football team at this year’s European Championships.

This year marks Wales’ first ever qualification into a major competition – excluding the bye the country received to enter the 1958 World Cup.

In a bid to further buoy the already jubilant team and the fans’ spirits, Sesiwn Fawr organiser, singer with folk group Gwerinos and Dolgellau town councillor Ywain Myfyr is set to release a new song to get all of the travelling Welsh fans singing off the same songsheet.

Ywain, a former headteacher at Ysgol y Traeth, Barmouth, now working with Welsh teaching uni­on UCAC, has followed Wales all over Europe.

Following Wales’ impressive 3-0 win over Isr­ael last March, Ywain was confident that Wales would qualify for the first time in decades and proceeded to rewrite and record a couple of songs that would commemorate the teams’ magnificent achievement.

“I was sitting on a beach in Tel Aviv with my son Ifan (a musician with the popular Welsh band Swnami) when the thought struck me,” Cllr Myfyr told the Cambrian News.

“Hogia Ni has always been popular when we’ve sung it and that dates back about 20 years.

“I decided to rewrite it with Welsh and English lyrics and base it on Wales’ upcoming exploits.

“We’ve got a gig coming up in Ty Siamas on 19 March so people are more than welcome to come along and find out how it sounds for themselves.”

Several Welsh musicians, bands and organisations have come together to produce the rousing anthems.

Yws Gwynedd, folk band Gwerinos and Band Deiniolen all teamed up last Saturday to record the revamped All the Way and Hogia Ni for this summer’s tournament.

The tracks are in the final stages of production and will be available for download in the near future­.

All proceeds from downloading or buying the songs will go towards Gôl, the charity set up by Wales supporters who take toys and kit to orphanages when they play away in different countries.

Cllr Myfyr has been a passionate Welsh fan all of his life and cannot wait to head to the continent for the championships.

He said: “Am I confident? Yeah, why not? We can beat anyone on our day.

“I think we can pull off a few shocks and get out of the group and then who knows what will happen.

“I just think it’s fantastic for the kids around here to have heroes to aspire to and follow.

“I’ll be out there in my campervan shouting them on too.”