Cylchgronau Cymru

ROYAL NATIONAL EISTEDDFOD OF WALES, 1938. PRESENTATION OF BARDIC CHAIR. It is, of course, common knowledge that at the yearly meeting of the Royal National Eisteddfod of Wales, a Crown and a Chair are offered as the principal prizes in the literary competitions. To be the Crowned Bard or the Chaired Bard is the hall-mark of literary merit, for, unless in the opinion of the adjudicators, a certain standard is reached, the Chair or the Crown may be, and sometimes is, withheld. In recent years, these prizes have been presented to the Eisteddfod Authorities by groups of Welshmen living in various parts of the world, but, when it was decided that the National Eisteddfod of 1938 should be held in Cardiff, it was suggested that the gifts. should be made by two prominent local societies-the Crown by the Cardiff Cymmrodorion Society and the Chair by the Cardiff Naturalists' Society-the senior cultural Society in Cardiff. The two societies readily agreed and the Council of the Cardiff Naturalists' Society appointed a sub-committee (consisting of Principal J. F. Rees, Mr. T. Guy Clarke, and the Hon. Secretary), to confer with the representatives of the Eisteddfod Executive Committee (Mr. T. Alwyn Lloyd and Mr. Iorwerth Peate) as to the design of the Chair. The sub-committee at once decided (1) that the Chair should be made in Wales, (2) that, so far as possible, the materials should be of local origin, and (3) that the design should, in contrast with many of its predecessors, be dignified and distinguished but not ornate. The Brynmawr Furniture Makers, Ltd., were commissioned to prepare a sketch, which after much careful consideration involving various amendments, was finally accepted. A photograph of the Chair is reproduced herewith. The oak was grown on the estate of Lady Herbert at Coldbrook, and the craftsman- ship is worthy of the fine work for which the Brynmawr Furniture Makers have become renowned. The Chair was handed over by the President of the Society, Principal J. F. Rees, M.A., M.Com., at the opening of the Eisteddfod Arts