The Gathering at the Llareggub

Easiest way to find the Marker is to take the Dylan Thomas Birthday Walk. It starts by the car park below the castle. (And anyone can point you the way!) It is a beautiful walk, taking you through Dylan Thomas’ poem called “Poem in October,” set on his 30th Birthday. It is a deeply evocative experience,taking you to the shoulder of St John’s Hill where, today, you will also find this marker.

A champagne toast with the Honorable Bob Stevens, former Mayor of Laugharne and creator of the Birthday Walk.

The story behind this picture, in the words of Geographer-at-Large, Eames Demetrios:

That is yours truly on the left and I am toasting with Bob Stevens, who, a couple of days earlier, had just finished his 1 year term as the mayor of Laugharne, Wales (UK). How did we meet and why were we toasting?

Well, first, it doesn’t hurt to know that Laugharne is famous as the main home of the poet Dylan Thomas—indeed, it’s where he is buried. Over 8 years ago, I wrote a Kcymaerxthaere marker and had permission (hat tip to Lucy Newman-Cleeve) to install it at a hotel outside of Laugharne, set in the marsh. But before we could install it, they had financial troubles and eventually closed. I called and emailed, but no doubt old owners and new owners alike had bigger problems and challenges. No one could find the marker, and after a few years, there wasn’t much point in trying—except fitfully. Even then: no results.

Meanwhile, I had always enjoyed the story on the marker—that of The Gathering at the Llareggub, part of one of the most remarkable acts of civil disobedience in linear or non-linear history—and was always a bit sad that it had never made it into the world. Seven and half years went by . . .

A few months ago, years after I had lost all hope on this matter, though, I got an email from this very same Bob Stevens, Mayor of Laugharne, and creator of the Dylan Thomas Birthday Walk (please like the page if you check it out).

The Mayor had a story: The wife of a friend of his had seen a beautiful bronze marker in a dumpster (or “skip” in the UK) as she was walking by and had asked her husband to rescue it. It was the Kcymaerxthaere marker, somehow it had ended up there—but the main thing is that it had been found!

Dylan Thomas fans will recognize the name Llaregubb (spell it backwards sometime) as the town in “Under Milk Wood.” There aren’t that many local connection in Kcymaerxthaere as direct as that (but facts are facts), but because of that mention of Llareggub, the rescue couple (there can be rescue plaques as well as rescue dogs) reached out to Bob, the gentleman in the picture with me, not only because he was mayor, but because he is always trying to find new ways to tell the story of Laugharne and its adopted son.

Bob asked if I would like to have the marker be part of that Dylan Thomas Birthday Walk. The Walk celebrates the journey that Thomas took in his poem, “Poem in October,” inviting you to read pieces of the poem along a 2 mile walk while you can see the very sights he was immortalizing. Since The Gathering at the Llareggub is not really part of the poem, it becomes a nice punctuation at the end of the trail—and actually the experience of the marker is very simpatico with the experience of the trail.

I was planning to help install it, but being a man of action, Bob installed it himself (with the help of his daughter and her friend). It is sited perfectly and when I arrived, a glass of prosecco awaited me. And so, Bob and I toasted the successful installation!

A lot of things seemed to go wrong at first with this marker, but by the end a lot more were going right—and the new location could not be more beautiful. In fact, it is much better than the one I originally had in mind.

Another reason to come to Laugharne, and when you do, be sure to have a pint at Brown’s Hotel—after walking the Walk and seeing the marker.

This was Kcymaerxthaere installation #108 and the eighth in what we call the United Kingdom.