Carnival Day - Amlwch

From July onwards, the rain came down in 1960 but, fortunately for those in Amlwch, the sun shone on 6th August for the first carnival to be held in many years.

Amlwch's first carnival for years and the sun is out, despite the wet summer. The procession includes "beauties" lounging on the top of a car and a "beast" controlled by two boys, either or both requiring nourishment in the form of a hefty sandwich that is handed up to them by a spectator. This special day also includes a bit of "Victorian rock-and-roll".

One carnival float bears people dressed as the Gorsedd of Bards (a body responsible for the rituals and ceremonies of the National Eisteddfod, a Welsh language arts festival) and an empty chair labelled 'Caerdydd 1960 Y Gadair Wag' (Cardiff 1960 The Empty Chair). This refers to the fact that no poet's offering had been found worthy of the Chair at the National Eisteddfod hosted by Cardiff the previous week. Poets compete annually for a unique, carved wooden chair. It is won for a poem on a set topic composed using a particular pattern of sounds (stress, alliteration and rhyme) known as 'cynghanedd' – harmony. Cardiff had a reputation as a national eisteddfod locality that often failed to deliver a chaired bard.