St David's Day

Every year on the 1st of March, St David's Day, the grammar school I attended held a mini Eisteddfod, the maxi version of which is held in a town or city of Wales where competitions are held - solo singing, choirs, poetry competitions and so on. The big feature of the Eisteddfod is the chairing of the bard, that is the celebration of the writer of the best poem in which he sits in a magnificently carved chair and, with a sword held over his head, he is "chaired" - the exact meaning of what takes place has always been a mystery to me, one reason being that it is all conducted in Welsh and I don't speak the language coming as I do from Gwent (or Monmouthshire) in the east of Wales where few people speak Welsh.
I was surprised when I won the chair poem in our school's mini version of the Eisteddfod (all conducted in English); and as it happened one of the teachers at the school was the actual sword bearer at the big Eisteddfod function. So when I was "chaired" I was given, as they say these days, "the full monty" - the sword held above my head and the official recitation of the words spoken when the poet is chaired properly.
It was an experience that has stayed in my memory ever since, not least because whenever I am asked, rarely now, to give a talk on writing I always tell the audience this story of how I was "chaired" by Trefin.
And then I always add this comment about my writing career since then: "From there it's been down-hill all the way."