Set to start on Tuesday April 24, competitors are busy preparing and fine-tuning their performances.

The vocal section is up first, starting at 1pm on April 24, with the eight years and under entrants. Entries overall for vocal are slightly down from last year.

No competition will be held on Anzac Day and vocal will continue on the Thursday through to Saturday, April 28. All sections in vocal will be held in the Manning Entertainment Centre this year (for the past few years the junior sections have been held in the Tourist Information Centre).

Next is the piano section, which runs from May 4 to 6. Entry numbers are slightly up.

Dance will be split again, with a week in the middle due to NAPLAN testing at schools.

The novice and group sections will run from Tuesday May 8 to Sunday May 13. The group weekend is May 11,12 and 13.

“Numbers are up in dance,” said section co-coordinator and eisteddfod secretary Margaret Rogers.

“We have more than 40 in the young performers section, which used to be called baby dance. They age from about three up to six.”

The district and open dance sections will run from Saturday May 19 to Sunday May 27. “District entries are down a bit this year and it looks like they are up for open,” said Margaret.

Speech and drama gets underway on Monday May 28 and runs until Saturday June 2. 

While entries are up for the younger age groups, she said the number of senior entries has dropped off, mainly as students have finished school and are off at university or have joined the workforce.

Instrumental and bands will be held from Monday June 4 to Friday June 8, however there will not be a Battle of the Bands this year due to a lack of entries.

School choirs will be held on June 13 and 14.

The eisteddfod will wrap up with the grand concert on Saturday June 16.