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.
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.
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.
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.
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!