The Bardic Chair of the Avalon Marshes
A History of the Bardic Chair of the Avalon Marshes
By Eddie Wills, MC and founder of The Bardic Chair of the Avalon Marshes
The Bardic Chair of the Avalon Marshes, to give it’s full and proper title, was first instigated in October 2002 and was held every year at the Peat Moors Centre near Glastonbury until October 2009 when the Centre closed.
The idea grew from the need to hold an event at the end of October that wasn’t dependant on good weather. The Peat Moors Centre consisted of a collection of reconstructed Iron Age roundhouses based on examples from Glastonbury Lake Village, and it had become a tradition to mark three of the four annual fire festivals that fell during the open season with an event. Falling as it did on the last Sunday in October, holding a Samhain ‘Fair’ was a bit hit and miss due to the vagaries of the weather, and story telling seemed to be the answer. In 2000 Kevan Mainwairing, holder of the Bardic Chair of Bath, had been invited to tell stories beside the roundhouse fire for the event, which gave rise to the idea of holding our own Bardic chair event.
Central to this was the chair itself. A stripped willow chair using willow from Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve in the heart of the Avalon Marshes was made by master basket maker Ivor Hancock. From the outset the intention was that it should be presented to the winner who would return with it the following year to pass it on to the new winner, described in all subsequent press releases as ‘a bit like the Miss World crown, but more comfortable to sit on’. Once the winner had been announced, the event always ended with the burning of a wicker man at dusk, to bring the day to it’s proper conclusion.
As with all new and untried events, I think it’s fair to say it was a steep learning curve! The original plan was monstrously complicated – we had two roundhouses and each would act as a venue through the day. Each story teller would tell their story in each house and there was a complex scoring system for the three locally selected judges to follow. The weather was appalling with roads blocked by falling trees – it was genuinely atmospheric. And the audience stayed away in droves. Still by the afternoon a large enough audience had assembled for the competition to take place and of the eight contestants, Sharon Jacksties was declared the winner.
The following year some refinements were added in that the competition was held between two and four-thirty in the afternoon with stories limited to fifteen minutes each. This time the judging was marginally less complicated in that scores were given by the other participating story tellers with a casting vote by the Centre staff. It has to be said that this was still controversial and difficult because the stories were all so different in terms of genre and presentation that making comparison for marking was nigh on impossible, but this format continued for the next few years.
I was always conscious that some storytellers were uncomfortable with the competitive nature of the event and we were never that happy with the scoring system. But for the 2007 event I had a brainwave – why should the selection be left open to human error when the selection could be left to the muses? A system for drawing lots was introduced, far simpler to administer, and removing the competitive element at a stroke. Everyone present felt the process was vindicated in 2008 when the competition was won by the Unlimited Storytelling Company, the precursors of the Openstorytellers. So at the 2009 event, with the Centre days from closure I was delighted that Nicola Grove from Openstorytellers announced that they were determined to see the Bardic Chair competition live on and take on it’s oversight. I hope that it will continue for many years yet to come.
Holders (or perhaps Sitters) of the Bardic Chair;
2002: Sharon Jacksties
2003: Darren Hoskins
2004: Dave Manley
2005: Michael Loader
2006: Martin Maudsley
2007: Dave Manley
2008: The Unlimited Story Company
2009: “Clint Eastwood” (or at least the man with no name!)
2010: Beth Webb
2011: David Doyle of Stone Soup Storytelling
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