You may have heard the term ‘Bard’ before. It’s a title usually given to the winner of a prize for Welsh verse at an Eisteddfod. Shakespeare is often referred to as the Bard of Avon, and Scotland refers to Robbie Burns as their national bard.
Not to be outdone, our own city elects such a person every year in an annual competition of artistic talent.
This story is about Richard Tyler, who holds the 2026 Bardic Chair for Bath. He has just won Arts Council funding to craft a Bardic Bench at Bath City Farm, launching on World Poetry Day, 21 March 2027.
Richard said, “I went into the Bard of Bath competition with clear objectives at the beginning of the year: to use the bardic arts to bridge the gap between generations and to use creativity to help heal. I am so pleased that we have achieved one of my key objectives, which is to deliver for Twerton and Whiteway residents a Bardic Bench at Bath City Farm. The bench will be crafted from a fallen tree on the farm, and made by chainsaw artist Ray Wrick.
I want the Bardic Bench to be an invitation to gather, to rest, and to share stories, poems and song, and be inspired by the views across our incredible city. It will be accompanied by a digital site for these creative assets to be stored and shared more widely.”
Richard has also been appointed Poet in Residence at the RUH Dyson Cancer Centre. Richard will walk alongside patients, families and staff, offering poetry written and spoken, and the presence of someone willing to stay with what is hard. He comes to the work with lived and living experience of cancer, and a belief that the arts are an essential accompaniment to orthodox medicine; tending the parts of us that scans and treatments cannot reach.
“A poem can hold a single frightened person at a bedside, and a bench can hold a whole community,” said Richard. “Both say the same thing: the arts and creativity are essential to a life and to the place we share.”
Organiser Matt McCabe said: “I want to thank Richard for his energy and commitment, and to thank the Arts Council for supporting Richard’s work with this investment into the Bardic Arts in Bath. Anyone interested in the Bard of Bath Competition 2027 should email bardofbath@outlook.com”
- The Bard of Bath Competition is an annual event open to anyone with a current connection to the City of Bath.
- Richard Tyler is a poet, psychotherapist and holder of the 2026 Bardic Chair for Bath, and co-founder of The Willow Tree Foundation CIC. He is also a judge of the Happiful Poetry competition 2027 and is on the panel of The Association of Business Poets Conference.
- Richard Tyler has published two books, Jolt and As A Kite Falls.
- Richard Tyler’s background is a West End actor playing lead roles in Phantom Of The Opera and Les Misérables
- The bench will be shaped from a tree fallen on site at Bath City Farm, with chainsaw artist Ray Wirick (http://raywirick.com) and members of the Twerton and Whiteway community, and unveiled on World Poetry Day, Sunday 21 March 2027.
