bardaid literary festival 2018
On Saturday 12th May, I was invited to mooch along to the Victory Hall in the beautiful village of Long Marston in Buckinghamshire to help support The Bardaid Literary Festival 2018.
Bardaid is a terrific charity run by Donna Daniels-Moss and Paul Eccentric aka one half of the punk poetry duo ‘The Antipoet’, which raises funds to buy books from independent writers to donate to cash-strapped school libraries, or to create libraries where none currently exist. Their latest project is to convert a dilapidated stable block at Animal Antiks School, a place of learning on a farm for young adults and special needs children, into the eagerly anticipated Stable Library.
Paul Eccentric flourishing the Festival poster
Last year Bardaid bought the decommissioned, faded-red village telephone box in Long Marston, and after much renovation converted the old eyesore into a new community library.
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A previous project was to build a library in the only place with space at a special measures school – the broom cupboard. The books-in-the-broom-cupboard was such an inspirational hit that the library has now found its own dedicated room and the brooms have got their cupboard back.
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You can find out more about Bardaid here: https://www.rrrants.com
As you know, my passion for libraries stems from childhood and if it hadn’t been for Kensal Rise Library firing my passion for books and reading, I wouldn’t be sitting here now typing this missive.
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The Authors’ Panel fielding questions from right to left: playwright Dave Florez; Sunday Times best-seller Carole Matthews; crime novelist Dave Sivers; punk academic and writer Helen McCookerybook; Dr. Who and fantasy author Paul Magrs; and stuck on the end, some bald bloke.
Here's what the local press had to say:
The day was a triumph, much cash was raised and it was terrific, for me, to meet and enjoy the company of such a diverse range of talented writers.
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And if Donna and Paul were to invite me back, I’d not only be amazed but, I’d drop everything to be at the Bardaid Literary Festival 2019!