Gŵyl Daniel Owen Festival ends on a high!
Organisers of Mold’s literary and cultural festival have said it has been a “fantastic year” as the event came to a close on Friday.
More than 1,000 people have flocked to the annual Gŵyl Daniel Owen Festival, which included a variety of events between the 20th and 27th October.
Nia Wyn Jones from the Festival said “It has been another fantastic year with a mix of illustrated talks and lectures, exhibitions, outdoor performances and guided historical walks.”
On Saturday shoppers in Daniel Owen Square were entertained with a blaze of music and dance during ‘Dance, Song and Stories’. Performances from Côr y Pentan and the Rock Choir were very popular, they were joined by Cambria Band with their stirring Welsh airs. Mold Border Morris team, Tegeingl Tanglers and traditional folk dancing team Dawnswyr Delyn had the audience up on their feet joining in.
The excellent short listed entrants in the Daniel Owen Festival Young Writers’ Competition gave inspiring readings of their poetry and short stories on the theme of ‘Fast Fashion’. Their prize trophies were presented by Deputy Mayor of Mold, Cllr Sarah Taylor.
Singer songwriter Gareth Bonello (pictured above) delighted a full house at Mold Cricket Club with his songs, which are influenced by the traditional music and folklore of Wales.
Bethesda Chapel hall was packed on Monday evening for one of the highlights of the Festival when award-winning author Meinir Pierce Jones, gave the annual memorial lecture in Welsh on the theme of ‘Daniel Owen’s Women’.
Across at The Drovers Arms the well-supported open-mic event, ‘Poetry and Pints’ saw poets from across the region descend on Mold to read their thought provoking work.
On Tuesday and Wednesday the popular Historic Mold exhibition and talks by David Rowe, organised by Mold Town Council, shed light on the Town’s past. The Library rules of the 1940s made Mold’s present librarians laugh!
Three of this year’s interesting guided historical walks in areas associated with Daniel Owen were to the Old Cotton Mill (Synthite) with Walkabout Flintshire, Moel y Gaer with Clwydian Ramblers and Loggerheads with Kevin Matthias.
A Welsh language quiz with entertainment from Côr y Pentan on Wednesday evening also attracted a large audience.
On Thursday, Daniel Owen’s role as a member of Mold Local Board, a social reformer and friend of the people came to life in a well-received presentation by John Atkinson shown above with Nia Wyn Jones and Kevin Matthias from the Festival. He explained how the transformative Victorian period that Daniel Owen lived through informed his novels, as well as his actions as an elected local politician.
The Festival has been running in Mold since 2010 and is one of the highlights of the town’s events calendar – with something for everyone.
For more information, visit the website www.danielowenfestival.com or Facebook or follow twitter @DanielOwen1836.