Poet inspired by care home residents with dementia wins Eisteddfod prize

The poet Gwion Hallam has won a major prize at the National Eisteddfod, after being inspired by care home residents with dementia.

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Mr Hallam, whose day job is a television producer, worked on an eight-week community project for Literature Wales which saw him visiting dementia care homes.

He visited residents at Bryn Seiont Newydd, the dementia centre of excellence in Caernarfon run by Pendine Park organization and after talking to them, created a fictional character called Lili who lives in a dementia care home.

“It was a privilege working with dementia patients. Getting to know them and hearing the rhymes of their lives was enough to encourage me to write. It’s called Through a Mirror as it’s about using dementia as a mirror.

“With National Eisteddfod poetry entries it’s traditional to have a nom de plume, and I decided to use a compendium of the names of some of the people I met at the home, which was elwyn/annie/janet/jiws,” he said.

Mr Hallam’s poem Through a Mirror was judged the best in the Crown Competition. He added: “It was marvellous to win the crown, so I came back to the home to meet all the residents again and say thank you for the help and inspiration they gave me. It was lovely to see them again.”

Mr Hallam has been writing poetry for many years. He has published poems for children and his novel for teenagers, Creadyn, won him the Tir na n-og Prize in 2006. In 2003 he came close to winning the Eisteddfod crown in Montgomeryshire.

The resident whose own poem helped to inspire Gwion was 93-year-old Elwyn Hughes, a former postman from Rhostryfan near Caernarfon.

“He was very helpful and I really liked the fact he had written his own poems. Apart from discussing the work of Hedd Wynn, we also discussed a poem which was written in his memory after he was killed in 1917 by R Williams Parry,” revealed Mr Hallam.

The home’s musician in residence Nia Davies-Williams, who helped arrange the sessions with Gwion Hallam, said: “We were delighted to get involved with the Literature Wales project as part of our programme to enrich the lives of our residents.

“He visited us on eight occasions and spoke to a number of the residents about their lives and lots of other things, which brought back some pleasant memories for them.

“I think everyone who was involved enjoyed it very much and it was marvellous that what he learned from them inspired him to write his marvellous poem and win the Eisteddfod prize.

“It was also great to see him come back to the home to see everyone again and let them have a look at the lovely crown he won.”

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