Birkenhead festival marks Hedd Wyn Black Chair centenary

About 150 people have attended an event in Birkenhead to mark the centenary of World War One poet Hedd Wynn being awarded the bardic chair at the National Eisteddfod.

The ceremony took place a few weeks after he was killed at the Battle of Passchendaele on 31 July 1917.

When his death was announced, a black sheet was draped over the chair.

Opening the Gwyl Hedd Wyn festival on Saturday, Dr Arthur Thomas said it felt as if "history was coming home".

Hedd Wyn, the bardic name of Ellis Humphrey Evans, was born on 13 January 1887 in Gwynedd.

The Black Chair - Y Gadair Ddu - was taken by train to Trawsfynydd and now resides at the farm where he lived, a newly-refurbished museum and visitor centre to remember both the poet and the sacrifice of his community during the Great War.

Organised by the Merseyside Welsh Heritage Society, the festival, held at Wirral Hospitals' School, features a series of lectures, ceremonies and musical performances.

A memorial to the poet was unveiled on Saturday at Birkenhead Park, the site of the 1917 Eisteddfod.

A new chair, a gift from the Flemish Hedd Wyn Society, is being unveiled at the festival