Urdd 2025: Main Bard announced
Elain Roberts has been revealed as Main Bard at Eisteddfod yr Urdd Dur a Môr, Parc Margam a'r Fro 2025, in a special ceremony from the stage at the White Pavilion in Margam.
Elain is the first to have won the Drama Medal (in 2023) and the Chair at the Urdd Eisteddfod. And for the first time in the history of the competition, the chair has been won by women for three consecutive years.
A former pupil at Ysgol Bro Teifi, Elain studied French and Politics at the University in Bristol and after graduating, she moved back home to work. In February this year, Elain moved to London to start a new job with Plaid Cymru in Westminster.
Elain won the Drama Medal at the 2023 Urdd Eisteddfod, and she came third in the Crown competition in 2022. She only recently became interested in poetry after attending classes at the Vale pub in Felin-fach last year.
The competitors were tasked with composing a poem or poems on strict metre or vers libre, of no more than 100 lines on the theme: 'Sand'. Elain's poem is located on Traeth Gwyn (Llanina, Ceinewydd), a location that played a key part in her upbringing and where she still visits today to find tranquillity. The judges, Tudur Hallam and Grug Muse stated that Elain is more than worthy of this year's Eisteddfod Chair for 'a poem that grips the reader from the beginning and keeps a hold until the very end.'
'We are in safe hands with this poet. The story is familiar, the story of a young Welsh speaker leaving the countryside for city life, the beach is a medium to explore the feelings and experiences associated with this. The poet succeeds in expressing mixed emotions, sharing with us the experience of settling and being happy in an English city.'
Tesni Peers from Wrexham came second and Celt John from Aberystwyth was third. Their work will be published on the Urdd website later today. The winning work along with the adjudication will be available to read in Cyhoeddiadau'r Stamp publications after the ceremony. The ceremony was sponsored by the Ivor and Aeres Evans Charitable Trust.
Elain receives a beautiful chair created by Angharad Pearce Jones from the Brynaman area, sponsored by Soar-Maesyrhaf Chapel.
Speaking of the experience of creating the Eisteddfod yr Urdd Dur a Môr, Parc Margam a'r Fro, Angharad said: 'Creating this year's chair has been a wonderful privilege and a dream come true. I'm lucky that I had the last piece of Welsh iron ore from Tata's works for the chair, and I was determined to create a chair that felt positive – a celebration rather than a sad symbol of the past.'
The top three will be invited to take part in a course at Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre, Literature Wales, in memory of Olwen Dafydd. This is made possible through the Olwen Griffith Trust.
It is 30 years since, Tudur Hallam, one of the judges, won the Literature Medal at Eisteddfod yr Urdd Bro'r Preseli 1995 for a collection of poems, Blith Draphlith (topsy-turvy).
Results for all competitions can be found on s4c.cymru/urdd
The North Wales Live Whatsapp community for top stories and breaking news is live now - here's how to sign up
Find out what's happening near you
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
North Wales Chronicle
42 minutes ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Ryan Reynolds says he and Rob McElhenney don't make Wrexham ‘football decisions'
Wrexham have had a meteoric rise under their Hollywood owners, becoming the first team in the history of English football's top five divisions to secure three successive promotions. Reynolds and McElhenney were at the SToK Cae Ras on Saturday to watch Wrexham play their first home game in the second tier of English football since May 1982. But there was no Hollywood ending as West Brom won 3-2 to leave the Red Dragons without a Championship point after two games. 'We have a very hands-off management style,' Deadpool star Reynolds told Sky Sports. 'Our job is to listen, learn, and tell the story. And that's I think a great position for any ownership group to be in, to really just be there to support and tell the story. 'We don't make football decisions. And it's actually the great gift of that is that we're able to have relationships with the players at Wrexham, whereas most people in our position can't. 'So we have a relationship with every single one of our players.' The Welsh club's commercial success – fuelled by Reynolds and McElhenney's celebrity status and the award-winning 'Welcome to Wrexham' documentary series – has allowed them to invest heavily in Phil Parkinson's squad with nine summer signings. Wrexham have broken their transfer record three times this summer and Wales striker Nathan Broadhead, signed from Ipswich in a deal worth up to £10million, made his debut against West Brom. McElhenney said: 'It's interesting to get accolades when you hear people say, 'Oh, you guys have done a pretty good job with the club. 'The truth is we don't really have anything to do with what happens out on the pitch. 'We've got our very specific job, which is to be clowns and to tell the story as best we can. 'But also to be as respectful as we possibly can to what Phil does on the pitch and what the executive team, Michael (Williamson) and Shaun (Harvey) and Humphrey (Ker) and everybody does off the pitch. 'We just have an incredible team and we just get to sit back and be fans and document the process.'
Powys County Times
2 hours ago
- Powys County Times
Thousands revel in the sun at Powys staged Green Man 2025
Green Man Festival 2025 is in full swing in the Powys countryside, with the sun-drenched Saturday packing in standout performances, surprise sets, and art-led experiences. There were returning favourites and future stars, and a monumental Mountain Stage performance from CMAT, who described her long awaited Welsh debut as 'one of the best shows of her life'. Draped in the Welsh flag, CMAT and The Very Sexy CMAT Band filled the Mountain Stage with one of the biggest crowds in Green Man history, with festival-goers two-stepping to songs old and new; from her 2022 breakout single I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby! to viral hits The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station and Take A Sexy Picture Of Me, staking her claim as one of the most memorable Green Man performances to date. The late-night euphoria of electronic music legends Underworld – who formed in South Wales nearly 40 years ago – closed the day with a pulse-pounding set packed with techno beats, hypnotic visuals, and festival-defining moments. A triumphant rendition of their hit 'Born Slippy' sent the crowd into a frenzy, proving to be one of the biggest highlights of the night. Other remarkable performances lighting up the Mountain Stage on Saturday included Seattle-born singer-songwriting force Perfume Genius, who treated entranced audiences to a captivating set spanning his critically acclaimed catalogue, including tracks from his breakout 2025 record Glory, alongside North Carolina's MJ Lenderman and his band The Wind, whose special, 90-minute extended set of gritty, indie-rock energy and compelling storytelling electrified the crowd. Wales' own star Gwenno took the Green Man crowd by storm on Saturday afternoon, as she mesmerised fans with ethereal vocals and electronic soundscapes from her acclaimed 2025 album Tresor The Mountain Stage also played host to Afrofuturist ensemble Fulu Miziki and Boss Morris, with their modernistic reimagining of morris dancing. MJ Lenderman wasn't the only artist making a triumphant return to the Black Mountains, as 2024 Mercury Prize winners English Teacher and Welsh surf-pop favourites Melin Melyn also returned to Green Man. Having played at the festival in 2022 on the Rising stage, English Teacher soared on the Far Out stage, with crowds singing every word of their breakout anthem 'Nearly Daffodils'. Earlier, Melin Melyn lit up the same stage with their psychedelic flair, sparking a technicolour dance party that stood out as one of the weekend's most joyful moments. Over at the Walled Garden stage, another emerging Bristol star, Lucy Gooch, left crowds breathless as she held them in a dreamlike haze with ambient soundscapes. The ancient stone walls and oaks of the Walled Garden stage proved to be a beautiful setting for her standout performance, and those that followed. The Babbling Tongues area bustled with curious minds on Saturday afternoon, as jasmine.4.t, the newest Saddest Factory signee, joined hyperpop artist and drag royalty Happyness, a.k.a Ash Kenazi, for a raw and fascinating conversation on queer identity, vulnerability, and defying genre expectations in the music industry. Later in the same area on Saturday, celebrated comedian Stewart Lee gave a deliriously funny set of riffs on cultural decline, and the absurdities of modern life, leaving the audience in stitches. For festival goers seeking a fix of heavier sounds, Saturday night provided unruly belters from emerging experimental artist Black Fondu, who brought his signature blend of abstract grime, punk, and electronica to a Rising stage crowd ready to bounce around, and Manchester newcomers Westside Cowboy, who delivered a DIY indie-rock fueled set in the spirit of 2000s garage bands. With the festival weekend now in full swing, there's plenty more in store on the final day of Green Man 2025, with performances from dancefloor funk pioneers Cymande, trip-hop alt-indie alchemist Nilüfer Yanya, mighty Birmingham duo Big Special, New York City genre-benders Been Stellar, ethereal techno auteur Kelly Lee Owens, and many more.
Cambrian News
3 hours ago
- Cambrian News
National Poet of Wales comes to Aberystwyth for intimate one-night-only gig
The Welsh-Iraqi artist and filmmaker became Poet of Wales in 2022, her works published in the poetry collection My Body Can House Two Hearts and as part of Welsh (Plural): Essays on the Future of Wales.
