All hail the king of the bards!

The first St Albans Gorsedd took place in St Peter’s churchyard on Saturday as a fringe event of the Literary Festival, celebrating the bardic arts of storytelling, music, poetry and song.

Participants from the local community performed their tales on the newly carved storyteller’s chair, surrounded by an audience of around 100 spectators, many of whom were sitting on a complementary circle of wooden benches. The event was opened by St Albans Mayor Cllr Geoff Harrison and the Rev’d Anne Hollinghurst, vicar of St Peter’s

A panel of judges eventually decided to award the Bard’s laurel crown and a book token donated by Waterstones,to Neil Sankey, from Wheathampstead, for his topical folksong about a soldier in World War I and an Irish fairy tale.