Wednesbury Poet Laureate Brendan Hawthorne has done the Black Country proud yet again by bringing home a trophy from the National Dialect Festival held in Blackpool 18-20 October.

The annual conference, now in its’ tenth year, is the brainchild of Sid Calderbank from Lancashire, who aims to bring together native tongues from all over the country to celebrate the diversity of language and word usage we enjoy in England. Participants come from Lakeland, Northumbria, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Kent, Devon and Cornwall, but the search is always on for more regions and areas to be represented.

The rich historic past is marked by talks and exhibitions, dialect societies producing publications and CD’s and performances throughout the weekend, but the present was very much to the fore this year, when Professor Paul Salveson from the Universities of Bolton and Huddersfield spoke passionately about the need to keep these varied and vibrant dialects alive in the 21st century.

As a judge in the Written Poem Competition, Professor Salveson must have had his own words ringing in his ears when he heard Brendan’s composition The Black Country Joins in the Space Race about a tatter who decides to salvage scrap floating in space, so duly Brendan was awarded the Bill o’ Bowes Cup. It was a popular decision, with keen applause from the audience.

On being presented with the cup, Brendan said, It is an honour to win this award and it’s a great pleasure to bring dialects to a wider audience. Sid and I were on BBC1’s The One Show translating Shirley Bassey lyrics into our dialects to the Dame herself for her to guess the song titles. She didn’t find it easy!

This is the second year running that Brendan has won this prestigious silverware but he will be unable to make it a hat trick next time as he will be heading the team hosting the 2020 gathering and the host is exempt!

The event will take place in the Black Country 16-18 October 2020 and will be open to the public. Details of venue and times will be released in the New Year, so keep your eyes peeled for details.