Colourful Gorsedd of Bards to gather twice on Eisteddfod Maes

The Gorsedd of Bards will gather twice on the Eisteddfod Maes on Friday.

For many their colourful ceremonies are the highlight of the week-long festival and hopes are high that the weather will allow them to stage the event outdoors around the Gorsedd circle which has been established in the middle of the Maes.

These ceremonies will be the last for Archdruid Myrddin ap Dafydd who will hand over the mantle to Mererid Hopwood before next year’s Eisteddfod in Rhondda Cynon Taf.

At 11am the Archdruid will invest 50 people into the blue and green robes into the Gorsedd of Bards.

While some of the inductees are well known faces from Welsh life – they include Dwyfor Meirionnydd AS Mabon ap Gwynfor, drag artist Kristoffer Hughes, Archbishop Andrew John and broadcaster Aled Hughes – many of them are people who have given a lifetime of unstinting service to their local communities.

One of them is Christine Jones, Pwllheli who will be inducted into the blue robes for her tireless contribution to the community over many years.

Volunteer

Her nomination states: “The Welsh language is an essential part of Christine’s philosophy and she is always ready to help, volunteering with a number of local groups and organisations.

“A keen supporter of the Cerdd Dant Festival and the Eisteddfod she played a leading role in raising money locally for this Eisteddfod.

“She was responsible for creating the ‘Pnawn Difyr’ (Fun Afternoon) sessions for the Cerdd Dant Festival and these have continued since then, a definite legacy for the excellent work she has done in her local area.”

The afternoon ceremony features the award of a chair, if there is merit, to the winning bard.

It has been created by sculptor Stephen Faherty from a single piece of oak blown down in a storm on the iconic Lon Goed just a few miles from the Maes.

Officials and Eisteddfodwyr are crossing their fingers that the three adjudicators found merit in the poets submissions and that one of them will be taking the magnificent chair home with them.

The ceremony starts at 4.30pm.