News Archive
Three New Competitions Celebrating Thomas’ Life and Work
Saturday 19 July 2008
11.00 am - Local Primary & Secondary Schools Competitions
2.00 pm - Unveiling of R S Thomas Plaque by Lord Elystan Morgan
3.00 pm - Open Welsh Poetry Reading and Competition
Judges: Rev. Rhidian Jones & Professor G A Williams
Sunday 20 July 2008
11.00 am – 4.00 pm - Open English Competition
Judges: Dr Tony Brown and Byron Rogers
Byron Rogers’ recent award-winning biography Man who went into the West (Aurum, 2006) has renewed interest in R.S. Thomas (1913-2000), one of Wales’ best known and least conventional poets. To re-situate this phenomenon at St Michael’s Church, Eglwysfach, near Machynlleth, where Thomas was vicar during one of his most creative periods (1954-1967), local parishioners organised a poetry festival which was held on 19 and 20 July 2008.
The R.S. Thomas Poetry Festival will include the unveiling of a plaque in Thomas’ memory by Lord Elystan Morgan in the porch of St Michael’s Church, Eglwysfach. The dedication will be held at 2pm on Saturday 19 July. There will also be a Book Fair in the ‘Iron Room’ nearby and an exhibition in the baptistery. This display will include some of Thomas’ books and the loan of a crucifix and some candlesticks which he bought for Eglwysfach whilst Vicar. However the main attractions will be the final round of the bilingual children’s Junior and Senior poetry competitions, as well as the heats and final of the Welsh and English Poetry Reading competitions. All competitions will be held within St Michael’s Church over the festival period.
The Bilingual Children’s Poetry Competition is aimed at children and young adults from Ceredigion, Montgomery, Meirionydd and Dwyfor. The competition will be organised in two sections; Junior (for children aged between 7 to 11 years) and Senior (for ages 12 to 19 years). Entrants can submit up to three poems at a cost of £1 each, for the chance to win prizes of £20, £15 and £10, as well as book prizes from Y Lolfa. Judges will select four finalists in each section, in Welsh and in English, to give readings of their poems in the Church on Saturday 19 July starting at 11am, after which the winners will be announced. The intention is to provide an opportunity for entrants to learn more about R.S. Thomas’ life and work, and to be inspired into writing poetry in the future.
The Junior section poems must draw themes either from Thomas’ poem ‘This is the village’ (from The Small Window) or from ‘The flies walk upon the roof top’ (from Study). The bilingual judge for this section will be Dr Gwendraeth Morgan. The Senior section poems must draw themes either from Thomas’ poem ‘In Wales there are jewels to gather’ (from The Small Window) or ‘We met under a shower of bird-notes’ (from A Marriage). The Welsh judge for this section will be Prifardd Gwenallt Llwyd Ifan, and the English will be Mrs Wendy Crockett. Although the chosen themes are in English, since R.S. Thomas did not write poetry in Welsh, Welsh entries can develop them as they choose.
The Welsh Poetry Reading Competition will start at 3pm, also on 19 July, and will be open to anyone reciting their own published or unpublished poems in Welsh for a pre-booked five minute slot at £5 each. This competition will be sponsored by the Welsh Book Council with a £100 prize in book tokens. The judges will be Rev. Rhidian Jones and Professor G.A. Williams. They will be looking for a combination of the quality of the performance and the quality of the poems read.
The English Poetry Reading Competition will be held on Sunday 20 July from 11am, and will follow a similar format to the Welsh Poetry Reading Competition. This competition will be sponsored by The Book People with a £100 prize in book tokens. The judges will be Byron Rogers and Tony Brown.
Eglwysfach is 12 miles north of Aberystwyth and 6 miles south of Machynlleth on the A487. Local pubs are The Black Lion in Derwenlas (01654 703913) and The Wild Fowler in Tre’ddol (01970 832000). Light refreshments will be available in the Iron Room or entrants could bring a picnic.
Outside of the festival period but still part of the summer events at Eglwysfach. A Garden Party at Voelas Hall, with the garden of Llwyncelyn, Glandyfi that adjoins, opens on Sunday 24 August and a Village Fun Day party will be held on Saturday 13 September. Other events have already taken place: the Borth Choir, Côr y Gors gave a concert in March, there was a coffee morning and a plant sale in early May, Côr Merched sang in late May and a sponsored cycle ride was held in July.
All proceeds of these events will be used to repair the seriously dilapidated east end of St Michael’s Church. The roof of the apse requires considerable wood restoration work alongside the replacement of slates. This will be at considerable cost since the church is listed by CADW as a scarce example of an early 19th century church that retains much Regency character often lost in Victorian liturgical reforms.
For further information on any of these events please contact Joy Neal by email joyneal@btinternet.com, telephone: 01654 781203 or post at Llwyncelyn, Glandyfi, Machynlleth SY20 8SS. Further details are also available on the Academi ‘Other Literary Competitions’ pages; please click here.