YOUNGSTERS from both sides of the Welsh border met in Painscastle this month for poetry and music at the village’s 40th annual eisteddfod.

The event, which originated in the early 1900s, was revived in the 1960s after a short break and this year saw recitals from five to 18-year-olds who travelled from as near as Kington and as far away as South Wales.

Highlights include a ceremony known as ‘chairing the bard’ which in 2009 involved Swansea poet Michael Stenlake.

Local winners of categories covering solos, recitation and reading included Kington residents Hannah and Glenda Allaway, who won prizes for instrumental solos, and Jack Taylor from Ffynnon Gynydd.